Nature for finance – balancing food security with environment

The Norfolk Wendling Beck Environment Project (WBEP) has been used as an exemplar of the type of collaborative project between farmers, private companies (Anglia Water) and environmental groups, that will attract funding under the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) – a fund to support regenerative farming.

Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF)

Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced (on 19 June 2023) the government’s intention to release additional funds for NEIRF later in the year.

To date, 86 projects across England have received development grants of up to £100,000 through two competitive rounds of the £10 million NEIRF in 2021 and 2022.

Wendling Beck is a pilot for new nature market

One recipient of the NEIRF is Wendling Beck, a pioneering habitat creation, nature restoration and regenerative farming project spanning almost 2,000 acres near the market town of Dereham in Norfolk, UK.

The project aims to transform land use for environmental benefit while also selling ecosystem services such as biodiversity net gain. Glenn Anderson, Project Lead of The Wendling Beck Exemplar Project explains that it is a pathfinder project for financing land-use change through new nature markets.

It includes a collaboration with Rewilding Britain to better understand how different habitats sequester carbon, along with pioneering research on soil carbon – led by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Defra also announced the start of the piloting phase of a new version of the Green Finance Institute’s (GFI) investment readiness toolkit which provides a tailored framework for farmers giving advice on how to create investable nature finance projects.

Highlights

• Next round of the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) to launch later in year
• NEIRF builds on Green Finance Strategy and Nature Markets Framework to facilitate private investment in nature outcomes such as healthy soils and wildlife supporting productive and sustainable food production
• Builds on last month’s landmark UK Farm to Fork Summit at which the Prime Minister committed to protect farmers’ interests in future trade deals, boosted fruit and veg production and announced further investment in farming technologies