Environmental Horticulture Group                            CAP0013

Written evidence submitted by the Environmental Horticulture Group

Environmental Audit Committee inquiry: ‘The role of natural capital in the green economy’

About the Environmental Horticulture Group (EHG)

1. The Environmental Horticulture Group (EHG) exists to champion the unique economic, health, social and cultural value of environmental horticulture, landscaping and arboriculture. The EHG actively works with government to pursue our shared objectives – including improving our environment by greening our towns and cities, boosting local economies, encouraging healthy lifestyles, getting more people into meaningful employment through our education system and leading our transition towards a net zero economy.

2. Our industry is the original green economy and we are committed partners in the UK’s progress towards net zero. With a projected growth to almost £42 billion in 2030, compared to £28.8 billion in 2019, environmental horticulture offers a natural pathway to sustainable green economic growth. And with more British gardeners than ever, nurturing the environmental horticulture industry offers a route straight to the heart of our nation too.

3. Our sector has enormous potential to grow but we cannot do this alone. Greater government support is needed to enable the industry to reach its full economic potential, while also maximising its environmental benefits for the nation.

What potential contribution can private capital investment make to measures to secure nature recovery?

4. Investment in the environmental horticulture, landscape and arboriculture industry will lead to an organic alignment between economic growth and nature recovery.

5. Economically, research shows that if green space were to expand by 58,000 hectares through urban and other greening initiatives, there is an annualised asset value gain in terms of environment, health, social and property benefits of £8.4 billion per year. The direct economic value of public parks and green spaces to communities and residents has also been estimated to give a return on investment of 25:1 for London and Birmingham.

6. But the value of plants isn’t just economic. As a country, and as a planet, climate change is presenting the biggest existential threat for centuries. Plants offer vast benefits for mitigating these effects and play a critical role in improving the environment and wellbeing of our nation. Trees and plants are well documented for their abilities to remove pollutants from the atmosphere, including fine particulate matter, and nitrogen oxide, both of which are key pollutants that are targeted in the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

7. As example, the value of removing air pollution by vegetation alone to the UK was calculated as £1.3 billion in savings to the NHS alone in 2017. With greater investment in additional urban green space development and protection of existing spaces, the UK will be able to sequester increasing levels of carbon, cut back on energy use, while boosting the economic efficiency of the industry.

How can investment best be aligned with environmental benefits, so as to achieve or surpass the Government’s targets for nature recovery?

8. Plants, by their very nature, support clean air, thriving wildlife, mitigate the impacts of climate change and encourage people to engage with the natural world. The environmental horticulture, landscaping and arboriculture sector works to maximise the value of UK plants and trees and supply them to gardens and communities.

9. To boost the environmental benefits of investment in our industry, the Government should formally recognise the industry’s value by creating a Government Office for Green Spaces – a cross-government group tasked to maximise the value of green spaces in all aspects of policy-making and regulatory impact assessments. Regardless, throughout all policy, current and future governments must prioritise UK grown trees and plants to meet environmental targets with the goal of increasing UK production capacity in the medium-term.

10. In England, total garden area is more than four and a half times larger than that of our National Nature Reserves. This is a colossal resource of national significance for the thousands of generalist species that can live in gardens. Consumers’ gardens and the plants within them can offer a network of habitats for animals to access the wider landscape through connecting green spaces and the countryside. 

11. To capitalise on this vast untapped resource, as well as to deliver on tree planting goals, sustainable land management practices, and biodiversity net gain on new developments, processes must therefore be designed always with horticulture in mind.

September 2023