In a bid to position the United Kingdom as a global environmental leader before this year’s United Nations biodiversity conference (COP15) and climate-change conference (COP26), the UK government has announced biodiversity initiatives to halt species declines by 2030 and to protect 30% of its land area (see, for example, go.nature.com/3x4yk1k). These plans are at odds with its current spending on conservation.

The government’s conservation funding fell by 42% in real terms between 2008 and 2018 to just 0.02% of gross domestic product (GDP; see go.nature.com/2udg3od). It missed 14 of its 20 international biodiversity commitments (Aichi targets) in 2020 (see go.nature.com/3dor8ra). This year it commissioned the Dasgupta Review, which calls for economic changes to stop biodiversity loss (see go.nature.com/3jozldl).

However, even taking into account the May announcement of a 47% increase in Natural England’s funding (see go.nature.com/2t96qjn), the country still spends less than other nations with comparable GDP (see A. Seidl et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 5, 530–539; 2021 and go.nature.com/2udg3od). The United Kingdom needs to reconsider its public expenditure priorities if it is to close the gap between rhetoric and reality.