£64.6m at first close of Big Nature Impact Fund, largest nature-as-infrastructure vehicle (Finance Earth)

Finance Earth announced on 29/05/2026 the first close of the Big Nature Impact Fund LP at £64.6m, against a final target of £90-120m. Described by the fund manager as the UK's largest nature-as-infrastructure investment vehicle to date, the fund has attracted Zurich Insurance Group, Admiral Group, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Church of England's Social Impact Investment Programme among its anchor investors, following an intial £30M funding by Defra, the British State Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs .

The 12-year fund will invest in woodland creation, peatland restoration and other habitat creation in England, generating revenues primarily through the sale of carbon credits and biodiversity units via offtake agreements with corporates, real estate developers and other buyers.

The fund will only sell fully verified carbon credits and biodiversity units, avoiding the more common practice of selling pre-verification credits in UK voluntary carbon markets. The fund operates within England's developing nature markets framework, and in the statutory Biodiversity Net…