Free toolkit launched to help farmers attract private sector finance for environmental improvements
A free online toolkit has been launched by the Green Finance Institute to help farmers understand and navigate the growing area of nature markets.
Launched on 11 January, it aims to support farmers seeking to attract private sector finance to pay for additional improvements to the natural environment, supporting them with access to the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF), with the third round making funding available exclusively to farmers.
This has been timed to coincide with Biodiversity Net Gain becoming compulsory for large housing projects from next month and smaller housing projects later in the year.
Developed with a wide range of farming bodies, the "Farming Toolkit for Assessing Opportunities in Nature Markets" also includes case studies and a step-by-step guide for farmers considering how to access these markets.
Green Finance Minister, Lord Benyon said: “We are committed to targeting at least £500 million of private investment for nature recovery in England each year by 2027, rising to at least £1 billion each year by 2030, and farmers will be key in delivering this.
"This toolkit will be a valuable resource to give farmers and growers the information they need to develop their understanding of nature markets, providing them new opportunities to be paid for delivering environmental outcomes and contributing to a thriving and sustainable agricultural sector.”
The toolkit can be found on the Green Finance Institute website.
Authors
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.
Vicky Robinson
Vicky Robinson is Head of Sustainability and is responsible for leading and co-ordinating AIC's work on sustainability.
