Nature-based Solutions

Measurable impact – enduring resilience

Nature holds powerful solutions to many of today’s most pressing challenges and yet is being degraded faster than ever. Investments that protect and restore ecosystems will play a critical role in addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, and pollution.

At Gresham House, nature-based solutions are a core pillar of our Natural Capital platform alongside, and complementary to, our forestry and agriculture strategies. As the economic value of nature is increasingly recognised in the global economy, we believe that investing in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can deliver a competitive, risk-adjusted return while supporting the global transition to a sustainable economy.

Nature-based Solutions and why they matter

Investments in NbS are actions that protect, restore, or sustainably manage natural ecosystems to deliver public benefits and long-term ecological outcomes.

Healthy ecosystems provide essential services to communities, including pollination, flood regulation, clean air and water, recreation, and climate regulation. However, climate change and pollution are placing global ecosystems under unprecedented pressure, eroding these services and increasing systemic risk.

Reversing global biodiversity loss, strengthening resilience, and meeting climate and biodiversity targets could require triple current spending rates by 2030, with estimates running into the trillions of dollars globally[1]. This funding gap represents not only a challenge but also a clear opportunity to channel capital into scalable, high-quality projects that generate measurable environmental impact and financial returns.

Public policy initiatives and evolving market mechanisms are increasingly creating conditions that favour early, specialist entrants, particularly in areas where high-quality project supply remains limited.

[1] Investing in nature-based solutions, European Investment Bank

Our approach: scaling restoration, investing with intent

We invest in high-integrity, measurable nature-based solutions that align positive outcomes for nature with long-term financial performance.

  • High-integrity markets: We focus on markets where ecological outcomes are credible, measurable and supported by strong governance frameworks. This includes markets underpinned by legislation, such as Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in England, as well as other well-established approaches where measurements, verification and long-term stewardship are demonstrably robust.
  • Integrated capabilities: We draw on expertise across forestry, agriculture, and ecosystem restoration within Gresham House’s natural capital platform. While individual funds have distinct strategies, this breadth of experience allows us to apply relevant expertise to support the delivery of biodiversity, carbon, and wider ecosystem service outcomes across our strategies.
  • Rigorous integrity and verification: We use established monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) frameworks, supported by recognised methodologies and independent oversight where applicable. This approach ensures transparent and credible measurement of ecological outcomes over time, tailored to the characteristics of each strategy and asset class.
  • Local partnerships: We work closely with a range of landowners, operators, delivery partners, regulators, public bodies, and community stakeholders to support high-quality project delivery, embed best-practice restoration and promote long-term stewardship, aligned with local, regulatory, and ecological needs.

Gresham House Natural Capital

NbS is a core area of focus for Gresham House, centred on investments where the primary objective is the restoration and enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystems, alongside the generation of measurable environmental outcomes.

NbS sits alongside Gresham House’s Forestry and Agriculture strategies within the wider natural capital platform. While each strategy has a distinct primary focus, projects across Forestry and Agriculture may also deliver nature-based solution outcomes, where appropriate and supported by high-quality measurement and governance frameworks.

 

Why invest with Gresham House?

  • Built for Natural Capital: We are a specialist manager focused on natural capital, combining private markets discipline with deep expertise across forestry, agriculture and Nature-based Solutions.
  • Scale with substance: We are Europe’s largest specialist manager of Natural Capital, with £4 billion AUM in Natural Capital, across forestry, agriculture, and NbS. We bring the scale, track record and operational capability required to develop and manage institutional-grade nature investments.
  • Early where it matters: We have been an early participant in the development of investable nature markets, including biodiversity net gain and carbon-related opportunities, helping to turn emerging frameworks into scalable, asset-backed strategies.
  • Impact that performs: Our strategies are designed to deliver measurable, nature-positive outcomes alongside risk-adjusted financial returns – with impact embedded, not bolted on.
  • Accountability by design: We apply robust monitoring, reporting, and verification frameworks, supported by independent oversight, where appropriate, to underpin transparency and credibility.

Case Study: Environment Bank

Environment Bank (EB) illustrates how natural capital can be developed as an investable asset class. Backed by Gresham House since 2021, EB has established a growing network of habitat banks across England, converting underproductive land into woodlands, wetlands, and species-rich grasslands that deliver Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units, alongside wider ecosystem services co-benefits.

With Gresham House’s support, EB continues to scale its platform nationally, applying a structured, asset-backed approach to biodiversity restoration that combines long-term ecological stewardship with stable, infrastructure-like cashflows.

Get in touch

For more information about investing in Nature-based Solutions through Gresham House, please contact:

Heather Fleming  Claire Glennon
Heather Fleming Claire Glennon
Managing Director, Institutional Business Head of UK Institutional Sales
h.fleming@greshamhouse.com c.glennon@greshamhouse.com