50% Campaign

Over the past century, our countryside has lost an extraordinary amount of the wildlife that once thrived within it. Since the 1930s, approximately 97% of the UK’s wildflower meadows have disappeared. Alongside this loss of habitat, the Plant Atlas 2020 estimated that 53% of Britain’s native plant species had declined in their geographical range since the 1950s. Flowers such as harebells, once familiar across our landscapes, have become less widespread.

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The consequences extend through the natural world. Wildflowers provide food for pollinating insects, while meadows and hedgerows offer shelter, breeding places and connections between habitats. Research has documented continuing declines in insects and other invertebrates across Britain, particularly in intensively farmed landscapes. As these communities diminish, we weaken the natural systems on which wildlife and food production depend.

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Restoring wildlife also supports farming; bees and hoverflies help pollinate crops. Ladybirds, lacewings, ground beetles and spiders help control crop pests. These relationships are part of the working life of healthy farmland.

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Losing beneficial insects can weaken pollination and natural pest control, making crops more vulnerable and increasing the pressure to rely on other interventions.

 

Restoring suitable habitat can help rebuild these natural services. UK research has found that farming systems incorporating measures such as wildflower habitats can increase pollinators and predators of crop pests, although the costs and financial returns need careful consideration.

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Farmers need practical and financially viable ways to make this possible.

 

My proposal is that, on suitable land, natural burial could provide an additional income stream while helping fund the creation and continued care of wildlife-rich landscapes.

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Turning nature recovery commitments into living landscapes.

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The government has already recognised the need for substantial nature recovery. England’s Environmental Improvement Plan includes commitments to:

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• Halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.

• Restore or create 250,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by December 2030, progressing towards more than 500,000 hectares by 2042.

• Support farmers and land managers to create or restore 48,000 kilometres of hedgerows by 2037.

• Contribute to the UK commitment to effectively conserve and manage 30% of land for nature by 2030.

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These ambitions need land, funding and people who can care for the resulting habitats over many years.

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Well-planned natural burial grounds could contribute to this work: restoring species-rich meadows, strengthening hedgerows and creating native woodland where it is ecologically appropriate. Their contribution must be demonstrated through habitat improvements and secured through long-term management. Calling a site a natural burial ground does not automatically make it a nature recovery success.

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The opportunity is to connect the money we already spend caring for our dead with lasting care for our countryside.

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Our funeral choices also have an environmental cost.

Gas-powered cremation consumes fossil fuel and produces greenhouse-gas emissions.

 

Coffin materials also matter. Government guidance identifies nitrogen-containing resins in some grades of MDF as a source of nitrogen oxides during combustion and sets out measures to reduce pollutants and greenhouse-gas emissions from crematoria.

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A 2023 technical report by Planet Mark and Full Circle Funerals estimated 126 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) from the natural-gas energy used for a cremation. This was based on a small crematoria survey and is an illustrative estimate of gas-related emissions, rather than the footprint of the whole funeral.

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The century-long illustration accompanying my policy shows the scale involved. If England experienced 532,000 deaths each year, 80% resulted in cremation, and gas-related emissions remained at that illustrative level, 100 years would mean approximately 42.6 million cremations and 5.4 million tonnes of CO₂e from the gas used.

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This is a fixed-assumption illustration, not a prediction: population changes, cleaner energy and improvements in cremation technology would alter the outcome. It nevertheless gives us a reason to examine the cumulative consequences of funeral provision and the alternatives available.

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Natural burial avoids the fuel required for cremation and offers the possibility of supporting habitat restoration. Its overall environmental impact still depends on the site, coffin or shroud, transport and land management. The campaign calls for these factors to be considered honestly.

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Why aim for 50%?

The 50% ambition gives us a clear purpose: to make natural burial sufficiently understood, accessible and affordable that many more people can choose it.

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Achieving this would require public education, suitable local burial grounds and practical support for farmers and landowners. It would bring funeral professionals, communities and ecologists together to create places where remembrance and nature recovery can coexist.

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For families, it could mean a meaningful farewell in a landscape they value. For participating farmers, it could provide an additional source of income. For wildlife, it could mean more connected habitat with funding committed to its care.

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I want us to recognise the potential for the way we care for our dead to help restore the countryside we leave to future generations.

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The campaign respects personal choice, faith and family circumstances. Its ambition is to make this option available to more people through understanding and opportunity.