Partner Insight: Environment Bank, operator of England's largest network of Habitat Banks and Nature-based solutions, sets out how business and sustainability leaders can turn upstream nature restoration into an investable natural infrastructure asset
This winter could be one of the wettest in years, and boardroom conversations are shifting from drought to flood; that shift lands on the risk register as damaged property, interrupted operations, and fragile supply chains for many businesses.
The protection gap is widening
Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc recently argued on the BBC that the UK keeps building in harm's way, with more than 115,000 new homes estimated to go up in flood zones over the next decade. Around 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are already exposed. For them, better planning decisions come too late.
Insurers sit on both sides of this problem. They pay the claims when flood risk materialises, and they hold the capital that could reduce it at source. Aviva alone has more than £100bn invested in the UK, including £35bn in infrastructure, and has signalled an appetite to do more.
Corporate balance sheets follow the same logic. Any business with assets, people or suppliers in a floodplain carries exposure it currently pays for after the event.
Upstream, not after the event
There are three broad responses to flood risk. Property-level measures protect individual buildings. Engineered defences protect towns, but they are expensive, slow to build and logistically demanding.
The third answer works upstream: restoring wetlands, creating woodland and changing how farmland is managed, so water slows down long before it reaches homes, factories and roads.
These interventions do more than hold water back. They improve water quality and availability, rebuild soil health and create vital habitat, so a single project can serve several beneficiaries at once, not least the ecosystem itself.
None of this is new. So why, when the largest insurers can see the problem so clearly, is the money still not moving at scale?
The evidence gap is contractual, not scientific
Nature-based solutions have long lived in the world of pilots, partnerships and goodwill. Institutional investors need something different: a defined unit, a known cost, a return profile, and an accountable counterparty for a period that matches the liability.
Offshore wind offers a useful parallel. It did not scale because turbines became easier to measure. It scaled because Contracts for Difference gave investors reliable long-term revenue. Nature is approaching the same moment.
Biodiversity Net Gain has already shown the way. Environment Bank's Habitat Banks are backed by Gresham House capital, with developer contributions funding habitat creation and 30 years of management, and an evergreen bond with a UK high street bank securing long-term viability. Obligations are locked in through conservation covenants or planning agreements, with independent oversight from Responsible Bodies or local planning authorities.
That architecture translates directly to flood resilience. What it needs is a delivery partner able to do four things:
- Model the risk. Natural capital and resilience modelling to compare interventions and show where action creates the greatest value for your specific assets and dependencies.
- Assemble the buyers. Flood risk crosses property boundaries, so projects work best when several beneficiaries in a catchment, from water companies to insurers and manufacturers, share the cost through clear purchasing commitments.
- Stack the revenues. Combining compatible income from carbon, BNG, voluntary nature contributions and public funding makes landscape-scale projects viable.
- Hold the risk. Long-term contracts, management and monitoring, with evidence that separates anticipated benefits from observed results.
A pension fund will not negotiate long-term agreements with hundreds of landowners. A partner that brings land, ecology, finance and legal structures under one roof can.
What businesses can do now
Start with the risk register. Physical climate risks already logged there, and nature dependencies not yet assessed, are the strongest foundation for a business case built on avoided disruption and more reliable supply chains.
At Environment Bank, we have spent years building the contractual, financial and ecological structures that let private capital flow into habitat restoration. The same model now gives businesses a credible route to nature-based resilience at landscape scale.
Working with Environment Bank, that journey has four stages: diagnose what is driving the need; define options that balance location, ecological outcomes, cost and timeline; deliver through a programme with clear responsibilities and milestones; and demonstrate progress with evidence that supports Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)-aligned reporting and credible communications.
The capital exists, the science is sound, and there is no shortage of land ready for restoration. The missing piece is the contract that turns willingness into an investable natural infrastructure asset. All businesses need to do is start the conversation.
Explore nature-based resilience with Environment Bank →
This article is sponsored by Environment Bank.
