Founded in June 2021, with the specific aim of tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, Oxygen Conservation is an innovative start-up working to protect and improve natural assets. The company has now taken a significant step forward in its commitment to scaling conservation, with the backing of over £20m of lending from Triodos Bank UK to purchase the two new sites.
It will work on the delivery of a diverse range of projects, including species reintroduction, landscape connectivity, regenerative agriculture, and woodland creation. It also plans to incorporate renewable energy generation, sustainable housing and eco-tourism, and carbon sequestration through woodland and peatland restoration.
The finance is believed to be the largest conservation-focused commercial debt package in the UK to date. Explaining why new and innovative finance is needed to support nature-based projects now, Bevis Watts, chief executive of Triodos Bank UK, says: “Urgent restoration of the natural environment is essential to both tackling and being resilient to climate change, and the scale of investment needed is significant. We need to see ourselves as part of natural systems and create a new economy that is connected to the natural environment on which it depends.”
Introducing the landscapes
Invergeldie is an iconic Scottish Highlands estate in a truly spectacular setting. Currently home to a former grouse moor and small hill farming operation, Oxygen Conservation will be working with the on-site team, local businesses and the community over the coming 18 months to create a conservation-focused masterplan for the site to deliver genuine landscape-level restoration of natural processes.
During its custodianship, Oxygen Conservation intends to restore significant areas of peatland and plant large areas of native broadleaf woodland, whilst transitioning the farm to an organic, regenerative system that complements and enhances the natural environment.
Blackburn and Hartsgarth presents the organisation with the opportunity to create one of the most significant conservation projects in the UK by building upon the excellent environmental work already delivered by the previous owner, Buccleuch, on-site and complementing the neighbouring 10,500 acres of the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve.
By taking a holistic approach, Oxygen Conservation ensures its efforts benefit not only the environment but also contribute towards the social and economic wellbeing of local communities. Prioritising working with these communities and forming strategic partnerships, ensuring its plans meet the needs of the environment and those who depend on it.
Working in partnership
The partnership between Oxygen Conservation and Triodos Bank stems from a shared vision for protecting the natural world. “Triodos is changing what it means to be a bank. That’s why, when we were looking for someone to partner with to put together a significant conservation-based debt package, there was only one answer,” explains Rich Stockdale, managing director of Oxygen Conservation. “We are so proud to stand side by side with them today.”
“It’s only by creating these types of funding packages and frameworks with respected financial institutions that people can have the confidence to allow private finance to flow into natural capital at scale – thereby funding the protection of the natural world. Thank you to everyone at Triodos for their passion, vision and commitment to making this possible. We will now do everything we can to only deliver positive environmental and social impact at our incredible sites.”
Bevis delivers a similar message of support: “We have worked for over five years to find models for investing in nature restoration that deliver the greatest public good,” he explains.
“Oxygen Conservation is pioneering a brand-new approach to protecting and restoring nature and its commitment to deliver positive environmental and social impact, while generating a sustainable financial return, very much aligns with our own values as a bank. This loan, which adds to our pioneering portfolio of nature-based investment projects, is fully committed for 25 years, and is understood to be the largest debt transaction on nature-based finance in the UK. We’re extremely proud to be working together on this groundbreaking finance structure and hope to see similar projects around the UK.”
JamesGood work Triodos
Mrs ThomasFailed to mention that incorporating renewable energy actually means full scale industrialiation of precious landscape heritage and wildlife habitat, specifically Eagle hunting territory including the decimation of views from Ben Chonzie SSSI, Ben Vorlich within the National Park and from Ben Lawers located within the Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon National Scenic Area. Failed to mention the 25 x 700 ft turbine Windfarm proposal that is being sold as a rewilding. Very unprofessional to big this up as conserving nature when in fact it is the opposite.
Triodos Bank UKHi Mrs Thomas, Oxygen Conservation have written a blog post which explains these points in more detail. You can read it here: https://www.oxygenconservation.com/news-events/wind-vs-wilderness-the-uncomfortable-compromises-of-conservation/ Kind regards, Triodos Bank UK
Barbara MurrayThis is a travesty of ethical investment for the good of the environment! Invergeldie, near Comrie in Perthshire, is already a holistic natural landscape. What Oxygen Conservation are planning is to rip up pristine landscape to build a massive wind farm purely for profit. Oxygen Conservation is not working to “protect and improve natural assets”. It is going to cut a big road through untouched natural hillsides, damaging plants and an age-old eco-system, to drag in huge machines to dig up pristine deep peatlands, pour in tonnes of concrete - that worst of polluting materials - to erect its turbines which will disturb wildlife, including golden eagles. Oxygen Conservation say they intend to “restore significant areas of peatland”. They brought in their own “experts” to survey the peatlands and their data contradicts previous independent surveys and local people’s knowledge of the deep peat. Oxygen Conservation’s talk of “carbon sequestration through… peatland restoration” is an utter lie. They are in fact first destroying pristine deep peatlands that took thousands of years to form… but say they will then restore them! How many years will that take? Talk of “renewable energy generation” and sustainable green energy is fine but not if the environment is being totally damaged in order to do that generation. Triodos is being mislead. Oxygen Conservation is not a “start-up” and it is not “conservation-focused”. It has many projects in the UK already. It is profit focused. It sets up plans that will get them huge government grants and now is getting £20m from Triodos Bank UK. Their partner for the wind farm is Low Carbon - another deceptive name - whose CEO will get his profits delivered to Jersey, a tax haven, thus paying nothing back to the people of this country, the taxpayers, whose taxes supply the government grants Oxygen Conservation and Low Carbon get. Oxygen Conservation are certainly aiming to “generate a sustainable financial return” - their own! Forget about the natural environment! Oxygen Conservation say they will be working with the community but the community do not support the project. they have been vocal in their opposition. They do not want the local environment destroyed. Oxygen Conservation initially hired a trained ecologist, a highly regarded local woman, as project manager. It was clearly a deception they hoped would mollify the local community and initially it did to a certain extent. Oxygen Conservation did not tell her about their plans for the wind farm. Their PR talk was all about rewilding and tree planting etc. However, when she found out their plans and methods of working, she stuck to her principles and refused to support their wind farm plan - she resigned. The only person in the Comrie community who supports Oxygen Conservation is a local councillor who sees “community benefit” as £ signs for his own purposes. Tree planting may be beneficial but no doubt the fact that Oxygen Conservation can immediately claim carbon credits for every sapling planted means it suits their profit generation mindset. Oxygen Conservation claims it is “protecting the natural world” but its plans are in fact going to destroy and damage the natural world. Triodos was a “respected financial institution” that seemed to be funding the protection of the natural world. But with this loan to a purely profiteering but very convincingly greenwashed project, Triodos is damaging its claim to care for the environment and puts in question its claim to ethical investment. If anything can be done to stop this destruction of the pristine peatlands and the already existing beautiful environment of Invergeldie, please Triodos, do the ethical thing!
Ellie Triodos BankHi Barbara, Thank you for engaging with our article and this important topic. We've replied to your previous comment on another article to explain more about why we support and work with Oxygen Conservation. We've also spoken to the Oxygen team and they're very happy for you to contact them with any concerns related to Invergeldie directly via hello@oxygenconservation.com