We are living through a time of great uncertainty, with geopolitical instability increasing following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. As well as the tragic effects and appalling humanitarian crisis unfolding in the immediate region, the war has potential ramifications for global security at large if the conflict escalates further.

At home, the UK will see further energy and food price increases, on top of existing rises in the cost of living that mean millions of households are struggling to heat their homes and afford nutritious food.

The UK Government is set to publish an Energy Independence Plan in response to these concerns, and we are already seeing farming lobbyists push for greater intensive farming to shore up national food supply. Unfortunately, both these approaches fail to recognise the complexity of the challenge and the need to put a thriving natural environment at the heart of any solutions.

Last week, The Wildlife Trusts joined 30 other organisations to sign a letter urging the UK Government to support vulnerable households, tackle climate change and cut gas use. The new Energy Independence Plan soon to be published by the Government places all of the focus on increasing UK energy security through further drilling for oil and gas from the North Sea and accelerating the roll-out of large-scale wind and solar power developments.

As well as risking the achievement of net zero and efforts to tackle climate change by expanding new fossil fuels, the plan will ultimately fail to protect households from rapidly rising gas prices in the short-term. The majority of oil and gas licences and renewable development contracts will take at least 5-10 years to generate energy, which will be too late to help the estimated 1 in 3 UK households that could be facing fuel poverty this winter.

The plan is also too narrow in scope - failing to acknowledge powerful solutions to reduce energy demand and increase the proportion of renewables in our energy system, such as improving insulation and financial support for community energy.

While the large-scale build-out of renewables is a critical part of the solution to increase energy security and tackle climate change, they are not immune from causing environmental harm. When sited in the wrong places, renewables can prove devasting to ecosystems, including causing damage to habitats that are essential for storing carbon, such as peatland, salt marsh and deep-sea mud.  

By placing all their eggs in one basket, through the large-scale development of energy infrastructure, the Government is adding to the already acute levels of pressure on our wildlife and habitats from human activity.

To take one example, it is unlikely that there will be enough sea space for the amount of offshore wind farms needed to meet net zero by 2050 under the Government’s current policy direction, estimated at 14 times the offshore wind capacity that is already in operation. This is without considering the needs of other users of the sea such as shipping or the fishing industry. Not to mention the Government’s commitment to properly protect 30% of our land and seas by 2030.

The UK’s efforts to increase food security must be similarly holistic. Those calling for an expansion of nature-destroying industrial agriculture will only make us less resilient to future shocks. Whilst we recognise the challenges that the Ukraine crisis creates for world commodity prices, coupled with increased natural gas and fertiliser costs, the Government’s 2021 UK Food Security Report found that environmental degradation and climate change pose the greatest medium to long term risk to food security.

In fact, further intensification of food production in the UK will lead to a greater dependency on other countries for more fertilisers and pesticides, exacerbating uncertainty for farmers and destroying the soils, habitats and species that will help us to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Both energy and food security are complex issues which need innovative, ambitious and multi-pronged solutions if we are going to have any hope of creating a sustainable and resilient future. The Wildlife Trusts want to see the Government:

1. Halt measures to exploit domestic oil and gas resources
   Now more than ever, the UK Government needs to set clear commitments on when carbon emitting energy production will be phased out. COP26 showed we need to take urgent action right now to move away from fossil fuels in order to ensure global warming does not exceed 1.5°C. To meet our climate commitments, further expansion of North Sea drilling should be ruled out and the ban on fracking should remain in place.

2. Recognise that farming needs nature
   A healthy and thriving natural world is essential for supporting a resilient food system. We must continue to advance a holistic agenda for farming which combines food production with restoring and improving nature, and that mitigates climate change. Climate change already poses a growing risk to UK food production, with soil degradation limiting the amount of food which can be grown and warmer winters increasing the spread of crop diseases.
    
3. Step up measures to cut gas use
   Improvements in energy efficiency and insulation, and switching households from gas boilers to electric heat pumps will dramatically help reduce our gas use in the UK, but these all require steady funding and policy support from government. This needs to start right now if we are going to have a hope of achieving net zero by 2050.
    
4. Support farmers to adopt nature-friendly practises
   Farmers must be paid to farm in a way which counters these risks and promotes a thriving natural world.  Defra needs to continue exploring alternative payment approaches and progress the role that outcomes-based payments can play in rewarding farmers for the delivery of ecosystem services. This means farmers are rewarded for work that helps society, like carbon sequestration and flood risk mitigation.

5. Grants for households and businesses to install solar panels and ground source heat pumps
   We need to reverse the decision by David Cameron’s goverments to effectively end onshore wind subsidies, solar energy incentives and cut energy efficiency funding. Research from Carbon Brief suggests these decisions have added more than £2.5bn to UK energy bills. Subsidising households to build solar panels or install ground source heat pumps will not only contribute to achieving a diverse and more secure energy supply, but will also lead to efficiency savings as energy loss through transmission is reduced.

6. Support households and communities to develop their own green energy
   We need policies and incentives that provide the finance and technical assistance to empower households and communities to build their own sources of green energy where they live.

7. Develop a rural land use framework
   There is a finite amount of rural land in England and we must know how we can best make use of this limited space. Defra should accelerate progress against the National Food Strategy’s independent recommendation for a rural land use framework, in order to get a better idea of how different uses impact food supply, climate and nature.

8. Develop clean technologies that support nature’s recovery
   All new energy developments must be built in a way that helps restore nature. Our future energy system must be renewable, innovative, diverse and avoid over-reliance on any one technology. Without putting nature at the heart of planning and changing the way we site all developments, including renewables, we will continue to see consenting risks and delays to energy projects.