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On COP27’s Biodiversity Day yesterday, the UK Government pledged to commit £30 million of seed finance into the Big Nature Impact Fund. This is a new public-private fund for nature-based solutions to climate change.
The fund, managed by Federated Hermes and Finance Earth, is to now start to engage with private investors. The intention is to unlock significant private investment into nature projects in England to help tackle climate change, such as tree planting, peatland restoration, habitat creation and water quality improvement projects. Investment generated through the fund is expected to support new woodland creation in England equivalent to 15-16 million new trees.
The idea is that projects will generate revenue to provide a financial return for investors by selling high-integrity carbon and biodiversity units to businesses to help them fulfil their net zero commitments and biodiversity net gain obligations.
Speaking at Biodiversity Day at COP27, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:
Over half of the world’s GDP is reliant on nature, which is why the UK put nature at the heart of our COP26 presidency and led calls to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030. We continue to demonstrate international leadership through commitments to create a natural world that is richer in plants and wildlife to tackle the climate crisis, and at next month’s meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity we will strive for an ambitious agreement that includes a global 30by30 target, a commitment to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and an increase in resources for the conservation and protection of nature from all sources.
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