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Milestone 04


Great North Bog


Identify and Work with Buyers


Green Finance Institute / GFI Hive / Investment Readiness Toolkit / Identify and Work with Buyers / Great North Bog

Project Summary

The Great North Bog (GNB) is a landscape-scale UK peatland restoration initiative supported by six leading partners: North Pennines National Landscape, Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Moors for the Future Partnership, Cumbria Peat Partnership, Northumberland Peat Partnership and Lancashire Peat Partnership. Together, the GNB coalition work to restore and protect nearly 7,000km2 of upland peatlands in and around the Protected Landscapes of northern England, representing the largest collaborative peatland conservation effort in the UK. The partners currently aim to use a range of public grant and private sector funding to restore the remaining degraded peatland within the area by 2040, estimated to be around 2,500km2. In 2023, the GNB partners began a collaborative buyer engagement project which sought to mobilise funding for peatland restoration by attracting and securing corporate buyers of carbon units under the IUCN UK Peatland Code.

Milestone 1: Initial Project Scoping

Often the initial task is to understand the site(s) you want to use and the land use change needed for nature restoration or creation. This includes considering the goals of the land managers involved, the vision within the wider catchment or neighbouring area, and whether there are permits or planning consent needed for any proposed changes.

At this stage, you can also conduct a high-level assessment to determine which revenue streams can be generated from ecosystem services , e.g. carbon credits, flood reduction cost savings, or biodiversity units, which will be crucial for identifying buyer interest.

Finally, it is useful to have an idea of the costs of the project and potential grant funding that may be available to support initial development.

Milestone 2: Identify and Work with Sellers

Initial ownership of the ecosystem services will belong to the landowners or, in some cases, the tenants of the sites that the project is using. However, these can be passed onto others, such as third-party project developers, with appropriate legal arrangements and compensation. In some cases, there may be a sole seller of the ecosystem services, where the site or landholding is large enough that it delivers the volume of ecosystem services needed to cover the costs of the project and attract buyers.

However, in order to achieve scale and impact, a project will likely involve multiple sellers, such as neighbouring farmers and estate managers. Scale of land is often needed to deliver significant environmental outcomes, and also to attract private finance.

Where they are not the land managers in question, project developers must plan how they initially contact and engage with these sellers going forward, building their wants and needs into the project.

Milestone 3: Baseline and Estimate Ecosystem Services

At this point, you will have understood the vision for the project and identified a particular ecosystem service or set of services to be sold. The next step will be to carry out detailed analysis – baselining each ecosystem service and quantifying what will be able to be delivered from the interventions, as well as planning how to monitor and maintain these interventions. You will need to rely heavily on ecological expertise for this more scientific Milestone.

At this step, standards, verification and accreditation methods will be considered in more depth.

Milestone 4: Identify and Work with Buyers

Based on your earlier market analysis in initial project scoping, you will have identified one or more groups of beneficiaries who may be willing to ‘buy’ or pay for the ecosystem service(s) to be created, restored or maintained. Buyers vary – as do their requirements – but at this step, greater buyer engagement is now needed to develop a deal that channels money towards the nature-positive outcomes that your project wants to deliver.

 

 

Milestone 5: Develop Business Case and Financial Model

You’ll have started building your business case and financial model in earlier steps – laying out your project’s vision, the market proposition and estimating costs and income. This step offers a review, in addition to providing details needed to build out the financial model and business case more fully. Both of these key documents will be iterated throughout project development, and will likely be altered during project delivery as new information emerges. These documents are interlinked and, if developed correctly, will ensure your project’s viability and help you with discussions with stakeholders – including sellers, buyers and future investors.

The financial model will also enable you to better understand the type of structure your project may take to attract investment (i.e.a loan, an equity investment, a bond) and what sort of returns you can afford to pay/offer.

Milestone 6: Develop a Governance Structure

A governance structure will inform the way in which the project is run when fully operational and for what purpose. It identifies appropriate decision making processes, who is responsible for what actions, and what controls are in place to make sure that the project is meeting its stated goals, all while abiding by the risk appetite of its engaged stakeholders. The legal entity to host the project will be a key driver in this, and the appropriate choice of entity will be dependent on several factors that are outlined below.

Your governance structure should align with and underpin your business case, as a necessary component of how the project will deliver its environmental outcomes and other strategic targets.

Milestone 7: Identify and Work with Investors

It is important to note that not all projects will need up-front investment, but for those that do, this section provides a framework for thinking around the development of the investment model. This does not constitute financial advice – as the GFI is not licensed to do so. However these considerations are based on the insight offered by project developers and other market stakeholders.

An investor will be a new core stakeholder in your project, and it’s just as important to think of what you require from investors, as much as what they require from you – so that you can build a positive and collaborative relationship with them.

This entails defining the investment ask (in line with the financial model), the strategy for approaching the right investors, and the negotiation of terms that can then be formalised in contract development (Milestone 8).

 

Milestone 8: Establish Legal Contracts and Closing

When all relevant stakeholders have been engaged and their terms of engagement are clarified as much as possible, this is the time to develop the legal contracts and close the deal. This stage is last because legal fees are expensive, and it is generally advised to determine as much as possible in previous stages before starting to draw up contracts in earnest.

Note: The information in this Milestone does not constitute any form of legal advice but instead serves as practical advice on how to manage engagement with lawyers and the process of contract development.

The Green Finance Institute is not a firm of solicitors or connected in any way with the courts. The information and opinions we provide in this section and across the Toolkit do not address your individual requirements and are for informational purposes only. They do not constitute any form of legal advice. We recommend that appropriate legal advice should be taken from a qualified solicitor before taking or refraining from taking any action.

Community Engagement

Community engagement is highly advisable for any project that aims to sell ecosystem services, to ensure fair outcomes for local communities and the long-term success of the project. Project developers can build connections with local stakeholder groups early on to spot both risks and opportunities.

Policy and Regulation

Project developers and enterprises will need to keep a continuous check on how current and future policy may affect the project, and also opportunities for the project to inform policy. The role of private finance for nature across the UK is being encouraged by the UK government and its devolved administrations, and new rules, standards and markets are being developed.

 
Quick Stats
  • Location: Northern England – Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire Dales, North Pennines, South Pennines, Peak District, North York Moors, Lancashire.
  • Size of Land: Estimated 2,500km2 peatland still to be restored (Total GNB area: 7,000km2)
  • Project Size: 10 hectares – 500 hectares
  • Tenancy & Ownership: Primarily owner-occupiers, some tenanted land.
  • Nature Market Focus: Peatland Carbon
  • Project Partners: North Pennines National Landscape, Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Moors for the Future Partnership, Cumbria Peat Partnership, Northumberland Peat Partnership, Lancashire Peat Partnership. Supporting Partners: Nature Finance, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, WaterLANDS

 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101036484 (WaterLANDS). This output reflects the views of the authors and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Acknowledgements 

With many thanks to the following individuals for their time and insight:

Kathryn Moyes, Graduate Trainee in Green Finance and Peatland Restoration, University of Leeds, WaterLANDS, North Pennines National Landscape (Seconded from the University of Leeds)

Paul Leadbitter, Peatland Programme Manager, North Pennines National Landscape, Great North Bog Project Team

A collaboration of staff from the following organisations:

 

Date Published: 27/09/25

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Key Points:

  • Through their buyer engagement project, the GNB partners aimed to secure agreements for IUCN UK Peatland Code (‘Peatland Code’) units from several large, listed companies and/or intermediaries.
  • The GNB project team aimed for a carbon price higher than the perceived average market rate to reflect the scale of the GNB area, the delivery record of the coalition partners and their quality of peatland restoration expertise.
  • To manage buyer engagement, in 2023 the project team created a Private Sector Partner Specification and used two Expression of Interest (EOI) phases to filter interest from corporate buyers and potential partners.
  • Responses to the EOI were diverse, with buyers requesting varied commercial terms, monitoring requirements, and project location-specific requests.
  • As of August 2025, the GNB partners are implementing their private financing model and working with landowners to identify Peatland Code sites to progress under their ‘primary partner’ framework.
  • Current estimates of the potential number of carbon units are between 0.7-3.4 million over 30 years, dependent on further surveying and financial modelling.

 

 

Defining the offer

Before engaging with buyers, the GNB project team first started to define the offer. The offer was based on the GNB partners’ aim of restoring, on average, 10,000-20,000ha of degraded peat a year through a combination of public grants and private sector funding.

For the private finance element, the GNB project team looked to match-up carbon buyers with landowners generating carbon units under the Peatland Code. Current estimates of the potential number of carbon units are between 0.7-3.4 million over 30 years, dependent on further surveying and financial modelling.

The project team’s early buyer research found landowners could be reluctant to join Peatland Code commercial agreements due to the limited income stream provided by the one-off payment for the sale of Pending Issuance Units (PIUs). Additionally, buyers recognised that, despite their upfront payments, their ability to utilise the carbon credits against their emissions targets relied on the landowner continuing to meet their obligations across the 30+ year contract period.

To help overcome this, the project team proposed a new PIU structure to buyers, which would combine:

  • an up-front payment for PIUs under the Peatland Code– 25% of the total carbon units available from that project,
  • annual payments for the remaining 75% of units over the life of the carbon contract (minimum 30 years), linked to an agreed carbon market index,
  • on a case-by-case basis, this may also be supplemented by public grants, such as Countryside Stewardship, in line with additionality.

Figures outlining 1) traditional PIU contract structure payments over time and 2) the proposed GNB PIU contract structure payments over time

 

This proposed structure aimed to reduce the risk of buying PIUs for both parties – as the buyer can secure 100% of PIUs up-front but pay for them over the project life, whilst the landowner receives an initial cash sum and a carbon index-linked revenue stream across the contract length. However, this does result in a higher overall price for the PIUs across the contract, due to a higher headline price and payments being index (inflation) linked.

Due to the GNB landscape’s scale and the partners’ expertise and restoration track record, the project team decided to aim for an above market-rate carbon price. At the time, the prevailing rate for peatland and woodland carbon was perceived to be around £20.00-£25.00 per tonne for verified units.

A Private Sector Partner Specification (the Specification) was drafted, which set out the offer (but not the target price) and invited buyers to express their interest in the GNB. This document was drawn together with approval from each of the coalition partners and help from external advisors, principally Dan Hird at Nature Finance ( funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.)

The Specification was finalised in early April 2023.

 

Identifying potential buyers

The GNB team wanted to work with early adopters who aligned with their restoration and landowner engagement approach and would invest in capacity building and long-term relationships. The project team approached large UK companies and financial institutions due to their scale and appetite for purchasing carbon credits.

To draw up a list of buyers to share the Specification with, the GNB project team:

  • used existing corporate contacts across the coalition partners and advisors, including Nature Finance and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation,
  • identified organisations within relevant networks such as the Transition Plan Taskforce,
  • published high-level details of the Specification through partnership social media channels.

The project team anticipated that some buyers might be hesitant to buy peatland-based carbon units, due to their categorisation as carbon emissions avoidance. The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) is a popular validation framework for corporate decarbonisation strategies but states that avoidance-based carbon credits can only be used for a ‘Carbon Neutral’ status. It was important for the project team to prepare for this potential discussion and emphasise the other strengths of the GNB, such as the partners’ relationships with landowners, their peatland restoration track record and the values of Peatland Code accreditation.

 

Approaching Buyers – Using Expression of Interest Phases

The GNB partners sent out the Specification in April 2023, with the project team opting to use two Expression of Interest (EOI) phases to manage discussions.

The first EOI phase required interested parties to provide high level responses to 10 questions. This included asking buyers to identify their formal, time-bound decarbonisation commitments.

Throughout summer 2023, the GNB project team met with potential buyers through hour-long two-way interviews, often speaking with heads of procurement, Corporate Social Responsibility and finance departments. Discussions covered the GNB’s governance structure, credit pricing, buyers’ own decarbonization strategies, and other key features of an agreement.

Paul Leadbitter, North Pennines National Landscape and part of the GNB project team, said that this phase revealed a number of complexities in what different buyers wanted. Some wished to use their own reporting systems and advanced monitoring, such as satellite technology. Other buyers were particular about the social impact or wanted the location of the peatlands to be close to their operational footprint. Overall, the project team found buyers were willing to be flexible about the structure of contracts due to the new and underdeveloped nature of the market.

In September 2023, the project team sent out a document for the second EOI phase. This outlined three funding scenarios and five alternative contract structures that could be used for a GNB restoration project (including the PIU structure set out previously). The potential buyers were asked to review and answer 13 questions on the proposals. A standard Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) was also offered, as the second EOI requested commercially sensitive information, including carbon pricing.

By November 2023, the GNB project team had received six responses to the second EOI. This phase highlighted the general preference for a risk-sharing structure that did not involve the purchase of significant PIUs upfront.

The GNB’s Board met to discuss the responses in December 2023. It concluded that a multi-partner structure would be a better fit for all parties – terming these “primary partners” with which it could form a collaborative framework.

 

Ongoing negotiations

Since the EOI phases ended in December 2023, the GNB project team have been matching potential primary partners with landowners looking to sell carbon through the Peatland Code. This has involved several rounds of online and face-to-face meetings between the project team, buyers and interested landowners.

The length of time it has taken to progress conversations and conclude agreements has been reflective of several factors:

  • Engaging with voluntary carbon markets has been a relatively new process for all parties.
  • The complexity of carbon agreements has necessitated in-depth review by all stakeholders.
  • Conversations have had to frequently adapt to changing market forces and demand drivers.
  • Discussions have had to be tailored to the individual needs and requirements of each buyer and landowner to ensure mutually beneficial and acceptable agreements are reached.

As of August 2025, the GNB project team is looking to finalise a carbon contract between a landowner and a corporate partner under its framework. The GNB partners hope that this agreement will showcase the economic potential of the Peatland Code in helping fund restoration efforts across the uplands of Northern England.

 

Key learning:

The GNB project team has drawn together the following key learning for other projects looking to engage buyers in the voluntary carbon markets:

  • Clarify the offer – Transparency on what a project can and cannot do is important. Peatland Code carbon credits cannot currently be used against SBTN targets. If a buyer wants carbon credits for use against this framework, it is important to outline this distinction from the outset.
  • Listen and Learn – Engaging with buyers is a process of continuous learning. By undertaking this project and working with corporates beyond the EOI, the GNB now has two years’ experience linking up landowners with private finance, developing carbon contracts and understanding buyer demand drivers and voluntary carbon market interest – a skillset the GNB partners will continue to refine.
  • Co-design – The voluntary carbon market is still nascent and continually evolving, as are the requirements of buyers and sellers. It is therefore important to have an adaptable approach. The GNB team began this process with the intention of securing an exclusive deal with one buyer and are now pursuing a collaborative primary partner framework.
  • Be patient – Engaging buyers can be a complex and slow process. As voluntary carbon markets, and the development of the contracts that govern them are still relatively new and untested, the time it takes to conclude agreements may be longer than you initially expect.

 

Sources:

  1. Interview with Paul Leadbitter, Peatland Programme Manager, North Pennines National Landscape, August 2024
  2. GNB Private Sector Partner Specification
  3. Interview with Dan Hird, Nature Finance, February 2025
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