The Government has launched a consultation to gather views on a sustainable approach to marine development.
Marine net gain (MNG) aims to improve the state of the marine environment by protecting, restoring or creating environmental features of greater ecological value than any losses associated with marine infrastructure projects.
This will be increasingly important as we accelerate offshore wind deployment in our efforts to build a clean, secure and affordable domestic energy supply.
Marine net gain would protect valuable marine species and habitats, for example through planting seagrass which stores and absorbs carbon, or removing plastics and other litter from our oceans.
This consultation asks stakeholders to put forward their views on what the ‘gains’ could be and how these should be delivered.
The consultation opened on 7 June 2022 and will run for 12 weeks until 30 August 2022. Responses will be reviewed and used to help design the approach, including how gains could be implemented and which marine infrastructure projects are in scope.
More information here