NatureScot: Developing a framework for nature restoration across Scotland
Mainstreaming large scale nature restoration
NatureScot were looking to explore mainstreaming of large-scale nature restoration projects in Scotland. These projects have an important role in increasing carbon sequestration, climate resilience, and biodiversity conservation, as well as providing social and natural benefits through nature-based solutions. To do this, they wanted to build a framework that could assess the applicability of different public and private finance mechanisms to help them achieve this aim.
Project
Working in collaboration with Land Use Consultants, Accelar was engaged to explore the emerging and existing green finance models that could be applied at a greater scale and develop the mainstream framework for future restoration projects.
Impact
Through enhanced understanding of the financial mechanism landscape and the new framework, Accelar’s work enabled NatureScot to understand the economic and social impacts of large-scale nature restoration projects and how to value these benefits.
The work provided a database of funding models, enabling a series of recommendations as to how different habitats can leverage different mechanisms to help maximise environmental outcomes.
Evidence
The work was published here and is continued to be used as a reference point to highlight the different private finance mechanisms that exist to help leverage private sector funding for nature restoration.
Services
The Accelar team:
Performed research and analytics to help review the nature-based solutions and associated benefits.
Explored ecological data, biodiversity metric calculations and carbon sequestration rates to size ecosystem service marketplaces.
Modelled the tradeable benefits and market mechanisms into a proposition to help leverage private sector finance.
Engaged with the finance and business community to gauge interest in funding the nature restoration.
Marketed the environmental and financial benefits of the project, producing market-facing collateral and delivering the final implementation plan.
Presented at a local workshop to local businesses to gauge interest in the project and help shape the design of the ecosystem markets.