Once upon a time, developers applied for planning permission and they either got it or not. Now they have to deliver Net Biodiversity Gain, a very limited application of the polluter-pays principle. They should have to show Net Carbon Gain, compensating for the carbon emissions caused by building works and by the buildings. That way, there is some chance that building 300,000 houses a year could be compatible with net zero; right now they are not.

Consistent with the spirit of the Climate Change Act, all developments should first have to measure their full carbon consequences, and provide carbon compensation for three impacts: i) the losses incurred through the building projects themselves; ii) the ongoing loss of the soils and vegetation, which limits future sequestration; and iii) the ongoing carbon emissions from the new buildings. It is not just the bricks and the bulldozers, and not just the fact that, once built, few if any are really net zero homes, but also the damage done to the soils, which are not only carbon storers but also biodiversity reservoirs. Next time you pass a greenfield development called “The Meadows” you will know the lasting consequences, and this especially applies to housing on the Green Belt.

This podcast accompanies Dieter Helm's paper, Net Carbon Gain, which sets out the issues in more detail.
http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/natural-capital/environment/net-carbon-gain/

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