At the same time, as the UK transitions away from the current system of agricultural and land use support, a new mechanism of public-private funding will be needed to help channel this investment into improving Natural Capital.
Pennine helps clients by identifying projects requiring finance (including through carbon offsetting, polluter pays, and environmental net gain) and by combining this finance with DEFRA funding for public goods delivers landscape scale Natural Capital improvements.
Using this principal of Blended Finance is how we recommend Natural Capital gains can be unlocked.
To test an innovative cross-holding, collaborative system for planning and delivering environmental management on land that encompasses a variety of farming systems and a tapestry of nationally and internationally important habitats.
The testing of a mechanism for creating a multi-holding, long term, land management plan using a Natural Capital (NC) approach. We will test how NC accounting methods might be used to identify and prioritise environmental management objectives and subsequently to monitor the impact of management activities.
The NC accounts produced will also provide the basis for a payment structure and rates, which will be based on a ‘payment for ecosystem services’ (PES) model, that can be adjusted to reflect local priorities and incentivise activities that enhance the ‘asset base’ rather than simply maintain it.
The development of a financial mechanism blending private investment with DEFRA funding to help deliver Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services benefits within Environmental Land Management plans. The project examples are multi-faceted, testing improvements on air and water quality, flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, net biodiversity gain along with improved human health and well-being.
We believe this can reduce public sector funding pressures and help deliver environmental benefits on a landscape scale.
Pennine Forestry was set up as a Group company in 2016 to take advantage of the UK’s increasing demand for forestry. Pennine acts on behalf of HNWs purchasing bare land for planting, offering investors capital growth, a yield and a tax efficient investment. In both 2019 and 2020 Pennine was and will be responsible for approximately 2.5% of all afforestation in the UK:
In 2017 Pennine secured planting permission on a 350 ha farm in Northumberland, the largest new productive private sector forestry planting in England for 30 years. www.doddingtonnorthforest.com
In 2018, on behalf of an investor, Pennine purchased a 280 ha Farm near Selkirk and planting approval was granted in early 2019.
In November 2019 Pennine secured planting approval on a 240 ha farm in the Borders.
Our forestry and woodlands are independently audited and certified under the UK Woodland Carbon Code, the standard that offers corporate partners complete assurance about the high quality of their carbon investment.
Pennine undertakes design and implementation of all projects, and once installed, a fully managed service through a Heat Supply contract. Our customers receive the cost savings and environmental benefits against other fuels and pay an agreed amount for heat per kWh, billed on a monthly basis. The biomass boiler and associated equipment remains the property of Pennine Enterprises which retains the RHI payments.
This is ideal for clients who don’t wish to finance the investment required for the heating installation but can benefit from both the savings made on their heating costs and from the reduction in carbon emissions.
