As the PM prepared to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in August, he reaffirmed his commitment to biodiversity. One of the policy tools Johnson has for encouraging greater biodiversity in the UK is Nature Recovery Networks (NRNs).
Currently, protected habitats and ecosystems across the UK exist in isolation from one another. NRNs identify where these habitats and ecosystems are located, then link them via ‘eco-corridors’. The aim is that just like the road network, all ecosystems will be linked together through a NRN.
For example, waterways could be fenced off from livestock to allow fauna to reestablish itself along the riverbank. These waterways would then form eco-corridors as part of the NRN. Motorway wildlife crossings are another example of how an NRN can operate; they remove motorways as a barrier between ecosystems.
Climate change and its associated effects – rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather events – can result in changes to habitats and ecosystems that no longer make them habitable for wildlife. Adaptation to climate change is a critical part of maintaining biodiversity. By allowing wildlife to relocate, NRNs are one way to facilitate this. From crab crossing bridges over roads in Australia, to one of the Netherlands’ 600 motorway animal crossing tunnels, examples of infrastructure that make up NRNs can be seen worldwide.
‘Greenifying’ urban areas, allowing amenity grassland to return to meadows, restoring fauna, and afforestation also have roles to play within an NRN. One of the notable benefits these strategies bring is carbon sequestration – the process by which carbon dioxide is captured and stored by plants, removing from it the atmosphere. In light of the government’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, any initiative that would contribute to this is worthy of consideration.
Reduced flooding is another benefit that comes with NRNs. As the landscape becomes more diverse through NRNs’ protected ecosystems and rewilding, trees and peat bogs which make up wetlands will become more prevalent. Together, they stabilise the ground and hold more water than, say, closely grazed grassland would. Reduced risk of flooding comes as a consequence of this. Given that one in six UK properties are at significant risk of flooding, and the annual cost to the country sits at £4.4 billion, NRNs would aid in addressing one of the UK’s more costly environmental challenges.
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire are already using Nature Recovery Networks as part of their development planning. However, to truly benefit from NRNs, they should become part of a nation-wide strategy.
The idea of establishing Nature Recovery Networks at a national level is not a new one. Indeed, the Government has expressed that it intends to develop a Nature Recovery Network as part of its 25-year environment plan. They have stated that 500,000 hectares will be set aside for this. However, there has been no mention of how much funding an NRN would receive, yet alone a timeframe for its delivery.
Greater biodiversity, climate adaptation, carbon reduction, and less flooding are just some of the benefits that would come from nation-wide NRNs. The government has so far paid only lip-service to the idea of establishing NRNs across the UK. Given the clear benefits of NRNs, the PM should bolster support for this initiative and ensure that they are established sooner rather than later.
Patrick Hall is a Researcher at Bright Blue. Image licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.
In the wake of recent developments regarding China’s decision to no longer accept waste from foreign countries, it is time we started thinking differently about how to manage our waste, especially considering that China has been the largest importer of UK-exported waste.
Methane gas is a by-product of landfills, pits of land where disposed waste is buried in, which contributes to climate change. Around 25% of man-made global warming can be attributed to methane. The largest cause of man-made methane in the UK is landfills. However, what is currently a negative externality of our waste could in fact be utilised as an energy source.
When methane is released into the atmosphere, it acts as a greenhouse gas by absorbing heat from the sun. It is one of the most harmful greenhouse gases in terms of its contribution to climate change; 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide at absorbing infrared radiation from the sun and in turn warming the planet.
But methane has a half-life of seven years, considerably less than carbon dioxide, which takes between 50 to 300 years to be removed from the atmosphere. This means that reducing the level of methane which is released into the atmosphere would have a comparatively quicker effect on reversing climate change than reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.
If biodegradable waste decomposes in an environment where there is no oxygen, such as a landfill, it produces methane. In recent times, the UK has been ranked eighth in the world for the most methane emissions released from landfills. On this basis and given methane’s prominent role in contributing to climate change, we need to urgently seek solutions for reducing methane from landfills.
One option is to incinerate waste to generate electricity and hot water. This option does not release any methane as the waste is incinerated rather than left to decompose. An excellent example of this in practice is the Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen. Over 400,000 tonnes of waste is incinerated in the plant every year, providing electricity and hot water for over half a million people. The bottom ash that is left over from the incineration process is also recycled by being used in roading construction, saving gravel.
Waste-to-energy plants such as this don’t have to be a blot on the landscape nor have a significant impact on air quality. Amager Bakke is aesthetically designed, and as for air quality, you can even partake in skiing and rock climbing on its roof right below the chimney stacks. This is thanks to its flue gas cleaning technology, which reduced sulphur (So2) emissions by 99.5% and nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels to one tenth of what they were in the 40-year-old incineration plant that Amager Bakke replaced. The plant’s emitted exhaust is comprised of water vapour as opposed to smoke.
Another solution to curbing methane emissions from landfill is to use methane recovery systems. Waste is placed within a sealed landfill chamber, and as it decomposes the methane gas amasses at the top of the chamber. The methane is then extracted out of the chamber through pipes. It can be combusted for energy generation, or simply burned in order to convert it to carbon dioxide (methane reacts to combustion by converting to carbon dioxide and water) and mitigate its impact on climate change.
An alternative to combusting the extracted methane is to use it as a source of natural gas. Bright Blue’s recent Pressure in the Pipelines report touted greater use of biomethane (a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases) in the gas network as a way of reducing emissions, as well as requiring gas suppliers to deliver increasing portions of low carbon gas, including biomethane. Once extracted, the landfill’s methane is converted to biomethane in a biosynthetic natural gas (BioSNG) plant, where it then goes on to supply the National Grid. This kind of technology has already arrived on UK shores, with the country’s first BioSNG plant having opened in Swindon in 2016.
These examples demonstrate that there are pragmatic options when it comes to managing our waste. In the case of landfills; a negative externality (methane) can be transformed into a positive input (source of energy). The UK needs to start thinking differently about waste management, and perhaps even seeing the potential opportunities in it.
Patrick Hall is a Researcher at Bright Blue.
