The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) emerged in 2015 with the world’s first science-based certification. A coalition between CDP, UN Global Compact, World Resource Institute and WWF, the certification provides guidance for companies and financial institutions on how to best reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet global net-zero. However, does ambition meet […]

Despite covering just 3 percent of the world’s land, peatlands store twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests, (UNEP) demonstrating just how vital Peatland restoration is in our efforts to reach net-zero. Restoration, however, isn’t simply an effort to capture more carbon. Peatland degradation caused by drainage for agricultural, horticultural and energy production […]

Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon captured by trees, crops, soils, hedgerows and other ‘nature assets’ requires effective technology. This is usually by earth observation from satellites where algorithms are used to convert the images obtained to leaf area index and biomass enabling authoritative information on the state of the nature asset and estimates […]

In my work as a land agent, I deal with a variety of landowners and farmers across the UK. Much of this covers day to day land management matters, but inevitably the conversations move to what the future holds for the rural economy. Agriculture as a sector is unique in so far as being both […]

Imagine a not-too-distant future where humans have become a wholly urban species. Eleven billion of us crammed into mega-cities, divorced from a rewilded rural environment. Science fiction? Perhaps it’s not that far-fetched given the pace of change — our insatiable appetite for growth, our reliance on technology and our need to find solutions to ever-decreasing […]