Pioneering nature projects launched to test carbon capture methods in fight against climate change

• £12.5 million awarded to develop nature-based solutions and build resilience to climate change  
• Six projects will receive funding to research how nature-rich woodlands, grasslands, wetlands and urban habitats take up carbon 
• Programme will deliver against commitments in the Environmental Improvement Plan  

Six pioneering nature projects across England receive major funding award to trial the most effective ways to capture carbon and mitigate the impacts of climate change, Natural England has announced today (11 February).   

Operating at a landscape scale of over 500 hectares each, the six projects will restore landscapes across England – from Plymouth to Northumberland – and assess how carbon is captured and stored across different habitats such as grasslands, forests, wetlands and hedgerows.

The £4.3 million of funding will support:   

• Wild Exmoor Carbon Sequestration Project: the National Trust has been awarded almost £1 million  to deliver targeted nature-based solutions and carbon capture across its 670-hectare Watersmeet estate. The charity will create a wetter and wilder landscape by restoring and protecting coastal woodland, heathland habitats, species rich grassland and wood pasture. 

• Wansbeck Restoration for Climate Change (WRCC): almost £600,000 has been awarded to the project managed by Groundwork NE & Cumbria which will assess how nature-based solutions can thrive in a farmed landscape. The project will restore mixed habitats – grasslands, peaty pockets and woodlands – and demonstrate how landowners can work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote carbon sequestration. Working across 10 sites, the work will restore over 144 hectares and will contribute to the wider restoration of the River Wansbeck catchment in Northumberland.   

• Plymouth’s Natural Grid Nature Based Solutions for Climate Change at the Landscape Scale project: approximately £1 million will support Plymouth City Council, working in collaboration with the National Trust, to restore natural habitats and create local solutions to climate change in the urban environment through wood pasture, species rich grassland and woodland creation, salt marsh restoration and floodplain mosaic habitat creation. 

• Derwent Forest Landscape Recovery Project, part of the Derwent Connections Programme: Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has been awarded £645,000 for its Derwent Forest Landscape Recovery partnership-led pilot project. This project aims to create connected woody habitats between the Northern and National Forests to allow movement of species in response to climate change. It will also develop an economically viable programme to support landowners to create and expand dynamic and resilient ecosystems.   

• The Oxfordshire–Buckinghamshire Freshwater Network: this programme, run by theFreshwater Habitats Trust, has been awarded over £780,000 to focus on the role played by smaller, peat-dominated wetlands, floodplains, wet grasslands and waters in sequestering carbon in the landscape. These habitats are of exceptional importance for freshwater biodiversity, which is in rapid decline. The project will help to better understand the role that these habitats can play in carbon sequestration. It will also help Freshwater Habitats Trust build the Freshwater Network – a national network of wilder, wetter, cleaner and connected freshwaters. 

• Severn Solutions for Nature’s Recovery (SSNR): Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has been awarded over £417,000 to work with Hasfield Court Estate to restore a 500-hectare estate in the Severn Vale. The partnership’s vision is to demonstrate and provide evidence of how the restoration of native habitats can provide nature-based solutions that help adapt to climate change and tackle the ecological emergency. Following a baseline survey of the estate, options have been tailored to maximise landscape connectivity between existing priority habitats, and will involve the creation of wood pasture, traditional orchards and species rich grassland. These actions will create habitats for important pollinator species, nesting opportunities for farmland birds and foraging networks for protected bat species. 

Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England said:   

“Many of the solutions to climate change are all around us in the natural world. From trees, hedges and grasslands that absorb carbon from the air to the peat-rich soils that hold it in the ground, there are huge opportunities to catch carbon while achieving other benefits at the same time, including increasing our ability to adapt to climate change impacts. The simple fact is that when it comes to our net zero ambitions Nature is our biggest ally and more we can do to restore it the better.”

  
“Getting the scale of benefits we need requires working together collaboratively across entire landscapes. This is only going to be possible if we forge broad partnerships and this is increasingly the case as different sectors see that they are all part of the solution to the climate and Nature challenges that the world and this country are setting out to meet”.

Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, said:   

“In the face of increasing climate extremes, using nature-based solutions that restore and work with natural processes is a powerful tool that can help protect us from the devastating impact of drought, floods and wildfires.  

“The collective ambition to restore nature at a landscape scale, alongside the right financial incentives, will create a more resilient approach which is needed to address the urgent challenges of nature loss and climate change”.

Richard Stanford, Chief Executive at the Forestry Commission, said:   

“Resilient forests, woods and trees are vital for capturing carbon in the fight against climate change and improving biodiversity to aid nature recovery.

“We are working with project partners on the creation and management of woodlands across these landscapes to help treble tree planting to 7,500 hectares by the end of this parliament with a goal of reaching 16.5% tree cover by 2050.

“Through this programme we will gain new insights into the factors that affect how trees capture carbon, over the short and long term, in a variety of different habitats and sites. This will build on the excellent work by Forest Research and other organisations on the subject”.

Ed Ikin, Director of Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden said:  
  

“We at Kew are delighted to be part of this transformative landscape research investment.   
  
“We hope our innovative research at Wakehurst will provide vital and valuable data for both the government and our new partner sites, offering essential scientific evidence for the ability of biodiverse landscapes to sequester carbon above and belowground to benefit people and the economy.”  

Nature-based solutions – which tackle societal challenges in ways that benefit both people and nature – can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and halt emissions from degraded natural sites and agricultural land. Testing the effectiveness of different landscapes in acting as carbon sinks will be crucial in meeting the UK’s climate goals.   

Analysis and information from the pilot sites will be used to better inform habitat creation and contribute to tackling climate change.  Each project will also look how best to blend public and private sources of funding to support further delivery of their landscape-scale plans for improving the natural environment. 

Nature Based Solutions for Climate Change at the Landscape Scale is a partnership led by Natural England with the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex.  It demonstrates the power of collaborative working to understand the value of nature-based solutions in tackling climate change and will deliver against the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.   

The organisations will work alongside project partners to expand scientific evidence on greenhouse gas emissions, create sustainable funding opportunities for landscape scale projects, and provide additional data to inform the development of robust carbon standards, such as the Woodland Carbon Code and the Peatland Code.  

The Nature Based Solutions for Climate Change Programme is a £12.5 million programme first established in 2021 which is funded by the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund, and cosponsored by Defra and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The fund seeks to increase cross-government collaboration and address society’s most challenging problems including biodiversity loss, climate change and land use change.  

In addition to establishing the partner sites, the funding is enabling Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and Kew to undertake further scientific research into the value of nature-based solutions and green finance models.  

Researchers at Kew’s wild botanic garden, Wakehurst will research the value of broadleaf, coppiced and coniferous woodlands in building resilience to climate change. Using drones, they will measure plant biomass alongside greenhouse gas flux, and undertake soil fungal research to consider how different biodiverse habitats sequester carbon.    

Natural England scientists are also assessing carbon and biodiversity both on the new habitats and assessing the carbon and biodiversity benefits of earlier habitat creation and restoration projects. 

The Programme will run until March 2024.  

Notes to editors:  

• The six projects have been awarded the funding following a competitive application round. Projects were assessed against the benefits they will create for biodiversity, improvements to capture carbon and benefits to people. Projects were also asked to demonstrate a long-term vision including blended funding, bringing private funding in to support the publicly funded works for the long term.  

• Wild Exmoor Carbon Sequestration Project (National Trust) has been awarded £962,084   
• Severn Solutions for Nature’s Recovery (SSNR) (Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust) has been awarded £417,205   
• The Oxfordshire–Buckinghamshire Freshwater Network has been awarded £788,004  
• Derwent Forest Landscape Recovery Project has been awarded £645,886  

• Plymouth’s Natural Grid project has been awarded £966,674  
• Wansbeck Restoration for Climate Change (WRCC) (Groundwork NE & Cumbria) has been awarded £574,753  

• The Woodland Carbon Code is the UK’s Government-backed quality assurance standard for woodland creation projects, and generates high integrity, independently verified carbon units. It provides the mechanism for landowners to attract carbon funding to support woodland creation projects on their land and is based on robust carbon prediction tools and monitoring protocols developed by Forest Research.  

• For more information on the Nature Based Solutions for Climate Change Programme, visit:  SOF Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change at the Landscape Scale  

Partner quotes pack:   
  

Matt Buckler, Head of Wilder Landscapes at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, said:  
  

“We are delighted to have been awarded Natural England’s Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change grant to move our Derwent Forest Landscape Recovery Project forward.  
  

“At Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, we are committed to addressing the UK’s climate and ecological emergencies and believe that joining together rewilding and a focus on increasing natural capital offers the best mechanism to provide nature-based solutions, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote carbon sequestration. Creating or restoring semi-natural habitats and providing the most dynamic and resilient ecosystems possible will be critical as climate impacts increase on our fragmented landscapes.”  
  

Kev Davies, Countryside Manager at the National Trust said:   
  

“Thanks to this grant we can work to restore natural processes to the land on the Watersmeet estate and create new and improved access for visitors. By utilising a mix of carefully controlled grazing, rootling, and wallowing animals, encouraging natural regeneration and scrub to form, and planting trees, we can slow the flow of water and retain more of it, encouraging a more dynamic and biodiverse landscape to develop.   

“These interventions will help increase understanding in carbon capture within the natural environment and will help us tackle the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.”  

Del Jones, Lead Land Manager at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust said:  

“We are excited to have the opportunity to deliver significant habitat restoration whilst being a part of an important national research project which will further our understanding the role Nature based solutions can play in tackling the climate and ecological emergencies.”