Natural Capital - letter to the FST

The ATT has today written to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (FST) expressing concerns about the delay in responding to a consultation on natural capital.  The letter has been sent jointly with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and the Law Society of Scotland (LSS). It follows the consultation on the taxation of environmental land management and ecosystem service markets issued last year.

We are concerned that uncertainty regarding the tax treatment of land management schemes including the woodland carbon code and peatland code is hindering the ability of land managers to engage with a range of environmentally beneficial schemes. This affects not only the UK’s ability to achieve its net zero goals by 2050, but also has direct impact on areas such as house building, where developers have to meet obligations in respect of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and nutrient neutrality before development can commence.