Fund to Support England’s Natural Environment

The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund has been established to fund nature projects in England which tackle climate change, create and restore habitats, or improve water quality.

The scheme aims to stimulate private investment and market-based mechanisms that improve and safeguard the natural environment by helping projects become investment ready. The intention is to establish a pipeline of projects for the private sector to invest in, and develop new funding models that can be replicated elsewhere.

Grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 are available. Funded projects must protect or enhance the domestic natural environment in line with one or more of the Government’s environmental improvement plan goals in the context of the following natural capital asset types:

Peri-urban (areas of transition from rural to urban land uses).
Enclosed farmland.
Mountain, moor and heathland.
Freshwaters and wetlands.
Woodland
Coastal margins.
Semi-natural grassland.

All costs must be directly associated with developing the investment readiness proposal to be eligible for funding.

Applications are accepted from farmers or farmer-led groups in England. Non-farming not-for-profit organisations, charities, non-governmental organisation (NGOs), public bodies or businesses can only apply for a grant if one or both of the following apply:

They can provide evidence that it will directly support farmers to access nature markets.
They have significant farmer representation in their partnership.

Applications for the third round can be made between 11 December 2023 and 16 February 2024.

Full details…