Water duo secure Defra funding to drive private investment in nature

Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water are among the successful recipients of Defra funding to drive private investment in nature and tackle climate change.

Fifty schemes will benefit from the second round of the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF), announced last week by Defra and the Environment Agency, which will provide grants of up to £100,000 to environmental groups, local authorities, businesses and other organisations to help them develop nature projects to a point where they can attract private investment.

Anglian was awarded £94,825 to develop a “stacking and bundling approach to enable investment into ecosystem services at scale,” based on modelling on the Sandringham Estate. The approach should attract corporate buyers looking at environmental services beyond Biodiversity Net Gain credits, such as water quality improvements.

Yorkshire received £73,125 towards a project to manage flood risk in Kingston-upon-Hull by combining Biodiversity Net Gain and Sustainable Drainage delivery in combined projects.

Among the other recipients were rivers and wildlife trusts, local councils and environmental charities. Twenty-nine schemes were awarded funding in the first NEIRF round, in July 2021.