Nature Positive Investment Opportunities through Solar Parks is an industry-leading report on nature-positive investment opportunities in the solar energy sector. The work was led by IFB Partner, Piran White of the University of York, and its findings are based on work completed as part of Phase I of the IFB Programme.
The project was in collaboration with Lancaster University, NextEnergy Capital, and NextEnergy Solar Fund, and it explores the integration of finance and biodiversity to transition towards a nature-positive future.
The UK, recognised as one of the most nature-depleted countries globally, can utilise solar farms to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem benefits via sustainable management and land-use practices. The UK Government's Net Zero Growth Plan aims to increase solar capacity five-fold by 2035, presenting significant opportunities for nature positive investments and the development of nature markets.
Robust indicators and metrics are essential for nature positive investments and trading. These indicators must cater to various stakeholders in the solar value chain, including law firms, investment banks, asset managers, pension funds, solar farm management companies, environmental and ecological consultancies.
The report identifies several key indicators for assessing nature positive impacts in solar farms. Effective indicators must be standardised, representative, auditable, and suitable for showing trends over time. They should be appropriate for financial disclosures and scalable over a portfolio of assets. Site-level reporting indicators include soil total nitrogen, soil organic matter and organic carbon, grazing animal stocking density, bird, pollinator, and bat species activity.