Ian Dickie FRSA has worked on the biodiversity net gain market projections for Defra and other clients, as well as being the technical editor of the BSI Nature Markets Principles Standard Flex 701. He has directed natural capital accounts for over 50 organisations in the Finance, Transport, Water, Forestry, Ports, and Agriculture sectors.

Two of the best bits of my February 2025 have been our eldest child attending university interviews, and being at the launch of EnTrade as an independent company at ARUP’s smart new office in my home city of Bristol. Our prospective student has coped with the interviews, including an independent trip to an unfamiliar city. At some stage you have to let them make their own way, avoiding ‘helicopter parenting’ (hanging over your child without giving them a chance to make their own moves and learn from mistakes as they grow up). 

The EnTrade launch was about nature markets growing up. What they don’t need in the UK is helicopter government. That’s not to say they don’t need oversight; kids shouldn’t just run wild. The oversight shouldn’t get in the way, but provide guidance, such as through standards like the BSI’s 701 on nature market integrity, which I’ve been editing.

Catchups with former colleagues and clients were enough to make the EnTrade event enjoyable for me. Even better was the positive buzz of a multidisciplinary community trying to deliver nature recovery. We can’t ignore the need for regulations to stop environmental damage, such as the policy approaches for PFAS chemicals my eftec colleagues are working on. But that need sits better alongside a positive message of recovery, delivered by politicians, businesses, NGOs and land managers alike... Including from farmers like the excellent Harry Lang who attended a natural capital training course I gave in 2017, and discusses his supply of nature-based projects to EnTrade’s Somerset Catchment Market in EnTrade’s video.
 
Instead of helicopters, think satellites, literally: Earth observation can reduce verification costs and generate consistent data for nature recovery, both of which will help nature markets. There is plenty else for Government to do, like speed up regulation of nature credit supply, share information, improve market governance and aid market liquidity. To do the latter, Government has tried intervening in markets (e.g. as a seller). Instead, it should focus on creating the right conditions to encourage enough other actors to enter, such as by risk reduction or tax incentives. 

Government needs to avoid taking on multiple, often conflicting roles, like a local authority regulating planning and selling nature credits. By focussing on market conditions, it will avoid putting public money into projects which can generate good private returns…Projects that are needed to successfully scale nature markets, drawing in more resources for nature recovery. 

Ian Dickie
Director, eftec
March 2025