Mobilising Finance for Nature

Green Finance Institute / GFI Hive

About Us

In line with the broader Green Finance Institute’s vision of a greener future made possible by finance, the Nature Team (GFI Hive) is committed to supporting the transition of the global economy to one that values and invests in the natural environment.

Our mission is to increase the role of the private sector in paying for and investing in nature restoration, nature-based solutions and nature-positive outcomes, ensuring that communities are engaged and rewarded within this new paradigm.

Like our colleagues across GFI, we are wholly outcomes-focused, and work across the UK with the finance sector, government, academia, environmental NGOs and land managers to identify and unlock barriers to this mission, and increasingly work internationally to apply and gather learnings.

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Latest Insights

Biodiversity Net Gain: A Roadmap for Action
Aug 01 2024
Through a Working Group of market experts and other key stakeholders totalling over 100 individuals, GFI Hive has developed a Roadmap for Action on Biodiversity Net Gain. This document has […]
The Insurance Sector and Natural Flood Management. Building the evidence, increasing commercial understanding, and upscaling the funding for NFM: An NFM Research Fund
Jul 23 2024
Cross-sector, expert-led natural flood management group recommends the creation of an NFM Research Fund to channel funding from the insurance sector into NFM projects to develop the evidence base and build the commercial understanding of NFM within insurers.
Assessing the Materiality of Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK
Apr 25 2024
Nature degradation could cause a 12% loss to UK GDP. A first-of-its-kind analysis quantifies the impact that nature degradation, both domestically and internationally, could have on the UK’s economy and financial sector. The work was led by the Green Finance Institute (GFI), with a technical team involving the UK’s top researchers: the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, the University of Reading, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).
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Explore the GFI Hive Toolkits

Investment Readiness Toolkit

 

The Investment Readiness Toolkit is an online and interactive framework that takes nature-based project developers and enterprises along the eight milestones of a path to ‘Investment Readiness’, providing key considerations and case studies.

This Toolkit was commissioned by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and is intended for any project developer or enterprise interested in restoring or creating natural habitats in the UK with the use of private finance – including farmers, estate owners, charities, local authorities, project developers or aggregators.

 

Farming Toolkit for Assessing Nature Market Opportunities

 

The Farming Toolkit has been commissioned by Defra as a free resource to support England’s farming community in understanding and navigating emerging nature market opportunities. It is a version of the Investment Readiness Toolkit bespoke to farmers.

The Toolkit is divided into two sections – the Introduction to Nature Markets gives an overview of nature markets as a concept and answers commons questions. The Snake provides a step-by-step guide for how nature market projects are developed in practice by farmers.

 

Latest Case Studies

Oxygen Conservation

 

Oxygen Conservation is a UK-based company that invests in land to protect and restore natural capital. In 2023, Oxygen Conservation acquired two estates in Scotland; Blackburn and Hartsgarth, and Invergeldie, which cover 23,000 acres. These acquisitions were completed through the use of a £20.55m loan facility from Triodos Bank UK – which as of September 2023 is believed to be the largest conservation-focused commercial package in the UK. Income is based on the sale of  carbon credits generated through the Peatland and Woodland Carbon Codes.

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Responsible Commodities Facility

 

The Responsible Commodities Facility provides financial incentives to produce soy in existing cleared and degraded lands in order to discourage further expansion of agricultural land in the Brazilian Cerrado. An $11m pilot fund has been launched with four-year green bonds bought by Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose, and the proceeds are used for low-interest loans to nine large farming groups

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Latest Podcasts

 

GFI Hive’s Financing Nature podcast will return in April 2024 with a brand new series in the lead up to COP16.  Until then please enjoy our UK Farming Toolkit Special Series of podcasts. 

 

 

Farming Toolkit Special Series: Archie Ruggles-Brise, Spains Hall Estate
Join us for this special episode of our mini-series, Farming Nature, as Archie Ruggles-Brise shares his experience and advice on preparing for Biodiversity Net Gain. We also hear about interventions across his Essex farm such as the introduction of beavers for flood management. This episode is designed to support farmers working through Milestone 5 of our Farming Toolkit.
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Farming Toolkit Special Series: Timothy Coates, co-founder Oxbury Bank and third generation farmer
From January 2024 to the end of March 2024, GFI's Financing Nature podcast is becoming Farming Nature - a series of audio interviews designed to support England's farmers in understanding nature markets as part of the new Farming Toolkit on GFI Hive. In this episode, Timothy Coates, co-founder of Oxbury Bank and third generation farmer shares why he is adapting his farm ready to sell units and credits, his views on 'no regrets' decisions and work with the Northeast Cotswolds Farmer Cluster. Financing Nature will be making its return in April 2024 in the lead up to COP16.
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Useful Resources

Report: Accelerating Investments for Nature-based Solutions in the Global South

Date published: August 2024
This report provides an understanding of NbS, details the difficulties associated with scaling and implementing such solutions, and proposes a framework to map and estimate the benefits of NbS in the Global South. This framework will allow users to: a) identify an intervention as an NbS, b) demarcate its benefits, and c) estimate the cost-to-benefit ratio by providing a standardised approach to assess and report on their outcomes and costs.
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Report: Stocktake on Nature-related Risks Supervisory and regulatory approaches and perspectives on financial risk

Date published: July 2024
The FSB has surveyed financial authorities from participating FSB member jurisdictions and international organisations on their current and planned initiatives on nature-related risks. The report provides insights on authorities’ approaches, recognising the early stage of work on nature-related financial risks and the diversity of authorities’ mandates and approaches to date.
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Report: State of Nature-related disclosures: Assessing TNFD alignment of nature-related disclosures by firms in high-risk sectors

Date published: July 2024
This report assesses the current state of nature-related reporting against the TNFD’s core disclosures. It reveals that firms assessed from most sectors on the way to aligning their disclosure with the TNFD framework, with 56% of the 16 firms in the sample disclosing information relevant to all 14 Core Recommendations, and 100% of firms having set nature-related targets.
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Research report: Nature Positive solar investment: industry guidance

Date published: July 2024
Finance & Investment in Nature-Positive Energy (FINE) have published an industry-leading research report on nature-positive investment opportunities in the solar energy sector. Led by the University of York, Lancaster University an NextEnergy Capital, the NextEnergy Solar Fund explores integration of finance and biodiversity in transition towards a nature-positive future.
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