This article was originally published by Triodos.
“For many people, the experience of the Coronavirus lockdown has transformed attitudes towards nature and wildlife and created a new sense of how important the natural world is to our wellbeing and what can happen if we continue to neglect it. There is now a great opportunity to make the case more boldly for investment in protection and restoration of our natural environment.
…One of the biggest challenges of our generation is to link investment in nature-based solutions to economic and social outcomes. Investment in restoration of our natural environment is not yet a recognised commercial proposition but it can be. Now it is time for the finance sector to play its role and use more imagination in how economic outcomes can be linked to investment in nature. There is a new opportunity to link the economic and societal benefits we take for granted from nature to investment in its restoration. This is central to developing a new economy that has an integral connection to societal health and environmental limits.
Now, having been sourced and evaluated by Triodos Bank UK, four projects have been selected to receive funding in a pilot scheme to encourage sustainable private sector investment in our natural environment. The projects will receive seed funding from Defra, the Environment Agency and The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to become ‘investment ready’, completing business plans to attract private sector investment, and deliver long-term environmental benefits and sustainable financial returns.
They are a diverse and exciting mix of projects including a Devon Wildlife Trust restoration of the Caen wetlands, The Rivers Trust’s natural flood management in the Wyre catchment in Lancashire, NFU’s work to reduce nitrate pollution in Poole Harbour and The Moors for the Future Partnership’s restoration and conservation of peatlands in the Pennines.”
Read on at: Triodos
