The month in review – March 2026

This month, the Aldersgate Group has continued to make the case for ambitious climate and environmental measures that drive economic growth and reinforce energy security. We hosted our first quarterly Members’ Meeting of the 2026, where we were joined by the Rt Hon Jim Murphy, Founder and Executive Chair of Arden Strategies and former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, and James Murray, Editor-in-Chief at BusinessGreen.

Aldersgate Group has published a report on ‘powering up public procurement to drive UK industrial decarbonisation and competitiveness’, highlighting the opportunities to the heavy industry sector by creating demand from low-carbon public procurement (LCPP), thereby supporting the UK’s net zero transition. You can read the report here.

Reacting to the publication of the updated Future Homes and Buildings Standards, which includes the rollout of “Plug-in” solar panels in shops, Rachel Solomon Williams, Executive Director at Aldersgate Group, said: “The built environment is one of the most challenging sectors to decarbonise. Including indirect emissions, buildings still account for 23% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. These new measures, requiring homes and commercial buildings to include low-carbon heating and energy efficiency, will play an important role in driving the transition. We are particularly pleased to see commercial buildings included in the requirements. This creates fairness within sectors, ensuring that forward-thinking businesses aren’t penalised for taking an ambitious approach.” You can read Rachel’s reaction in the Government’s press release here.

Reacting to the publication of the Land Use Framework, Tom Fewins, Aldersgate Group’s Head of External Affairs said: “How we use our land is critically important for meeting societal, economic, climate, and environmental goals. On these small islands, where we face multiple and growing pressures, we need to use our land more efficiently, particularly to meet our net zero and nature restoration goals. We welcome the publication of the Land Use Framework today, particularly the recognition of the critical importance of mobilising private investment and the development of a National Soil Map. We are still some way off the scale of investment required to boost low carbon transition and nature recovery, and we need to address the blockers that stand in the way.” You can read Tom’s reaction to the publication here.

Policy update

Business case for climate action

Rachel attended the first 2026 meeting of the Net Zero Council at which Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, shared some key messages on the current energy crisis. He emphasised the government’s commitment to managing near-term challenges while pursuing long-term UK energy security through the clean power mission and cross-sector decarbonisation. The Council’s wider discussion also included focus on the Aldersgate Group’s analysis of cross-sector policy barriers for the Council to address. This analysis draws on a gap assessment of the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan.

Enabling private sector action on nature

The Government has published its Strategic Policy Statements for the two environmental regulators, the Environment Agency and Natural England. These Statements outline the expectations of Defra on the activities of the regulators. Of note is the instruction to Natural England on the implementation of the first Environmental Delivery Plans, implementing learnings from the first EDPs to support wider rollout and incorporating nature into early decision-making, echoing the language of the Aldersgate Group’s briefing on the NRF from December. Also of note are the shared strategic priority of “supporting the transition of the water sector” in both Statements.

The team attended the Nature Restoration Fund Business Readiness Forum on 24th March, run by Defra and Natural England. We put questions on permanence and fund raising of EDPs to the team. We were assured that nutrient mitigation projects would be designed to mitigate pollution for a period of 100 years, a commitment to long term interventions that are paid for by upfront levy charges. This is a significant new development, albeit Natural England said they would be factoring in measures that do not require yearly intervention. As for money the first EDPs are expected to raise, officials said it’s impossible to tell at this stage, but work is ongoing to model this.

Defra has published its Land Use Framework (LUF) following an overwhelming response to their national conversation on land use launched last year. The Aldersgate Group were pleased to see many of our asks reflected in the response, including commitments to spatial targeting for the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS), and cross-planning between land use objectives. We have reached out to Defra to discuss their next steps for implementation. Read the Aldersgate Group briefing we published last June and our reactive statement to the LUF here.

Defra have also published its response to the call for evidence on expanding the role private investment in nature recovery. This call for evidence ran last summer and we thank members for their engagement throughout the process. The Government response can be found here, and the Aldersgate Group submission can be found here. Rachel attended a business roundtable, chaired by the Defra Secretary of State, Emma Reynolds, looking at next steps. At the roundtable there was strong consensus on the need for clearer demand-side measures, including potentially regulation, in order that private investment is more likely to be scaleable.

Planning

Aldersgate Group submitted a response to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework. Our response focused on the climate change mitigation and adaptation, securing clean energy and water and conserving and enhancing the natural environments. Overall, we welcomed the strengthened provisions on climate and nature but raised concerns regarding restrictions on Local Authorities aiming to exceed baseline standards, for example around Biodiversity Net Gain.

Decarbonising heavy goods vehicles

Aldersgate Group submitted a response to Department for Transport’s consultation on a new HGV CO₂ emissions regulatory framework for the UK. Decarbonising industry. Out response welcomed the government’s focus on electrification, while highlighting the need for a whole-system policy approach, one that considers infrastructure requirements and provides clear signals on the role of low-carbon fuels, particularly biomethane. You can read the full response here.

Industry decarbonisation

The Aldersgate Group has published a new policy briefing examining how the UK government could adopt a more ambitious approach to low-carbon public procurement (LCPP) to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and support the objectives of the Modern Industrial Strategy and the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy. The report sets out eight recommendations and draws on economic research commissioned by the Aldersgate Group and delivered by Cambridge Econometrics (CE), which can be viewed in an accompanying technical report.

The policy team has upcoming meetings with the Cabinet Office’s public procurement policy team and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) low-carbon products team to discuss these recommendations.

In the last month, the government revealed the UK Steel Strategy, setting out the government’s vision for the steel sector and the steps it is taking to support the steel industry to achieve it. This will be relevant to several sectors and policy areas of interest to Aldersgate Group. See the Aldersgate Group reactive statement issued to coincide with this publication. In the reactive, Rachel pointed to the major opportunity for UK steel, supported by low-carbon public procurement, while warning of the electricity prices as a pervasive barrier.

Built environment decarbonisation

The government has announced several measures aimed at delivering clean, secure and affordable energy for buildings. One key development was the final decisions on the Future Homes and Buildings Standards (FHBS), mandating low-carbon heating and on-site renewables in new homes and non-domestic buildings. You can find the Aldersgate Group’s reactive statement to the regulation change here.

AG Insights

From targets to traction: aligning business incentives with the Environment Act.

Guy Thompson, Director at Aldersgate Group, wrote for the website on how smarter regulation and better incentives can unlock private investment to clean up rivers, restore nature and grow the economy.