Major English Landowners & Net Zero: Challenges, Opportunities & Government Support

Non-governmental Major Landowners (MLOs) manage a significant proportion of England’s land area, and hence represent a major opportunity to accelerate the delivery of Government’s environmental and climate objectives through land use change. At the same time, there is keen interest from these organisations to align their ambitions and actions with the Government’s environmental objectives.

On July 22, the Land Use for Net Zero, People and Nature (LUNZ) Hub hosted a workshop to examine the role that MLOs can play in driving land use change across England, the barriers they face, the potential for greater collaboration and the role the government might play in supporting this transition through a variety of different policy mechanisms.

The workshop was attended by representatives of some of the principal categories of landowners (utilities companies, legacy landowners, third sector, institutions- see Annex 1), as well as participants from DEFRA and the LUNZ Hub. In advance of the workshop, a questionnaire was distributed among the MLOs to better understand the range of activities they are currently undertaking, and the challenges and opportunities they have identified.

Following the workshop, a summary report was written summary organised according to eight categories of potential government and other stakeholder intervention that were raised during the workshop.

Click here to download the full report.