Triodos Bank UK has been awarded the inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance Deal of the Year award at this year’s Insider South West Dealmakers Awards for its pioneering conservation-focused debt package to Oxygen Conservation.
Announced in April 2023, the £20.55m loan has allowed Oxygen Conservation to acquire 23,000 acres in Scotland, marking a significant step forward in its commitment to scale conservation across the UK. The loan is believed to be the largest conservation-focused commercial debt package in the UK to date.
Organised by the publishers of South West Business Insider, the Insider South West Dealmakers Awards included the ESG category for the first time in 2024 to celebrate transactions that had a significant focus on environmental and social impact.
The judges described the debt package as deeply innovative, and unlike anything seen previously. They recognised that, with a long-term view and a package of significant size, the deal highlights what could be the way forward for financing ESG in the future.
Both Triodos Bank and Oxygen Conservation are well established in the region, with the bank’s UK headquarters in Bristol and Oxygen Conservation based in Exeter.
Simon Crichton, Head of Nature, Food and Resource at Triodos Bank UK, said: “We know the financial system has a critical role to play in supporting nature and reversing biodiversity loss and, just as we developed early financing for the renewable energy sector, we hope to now accelerate this learning in the natural capital field. Our loan to Oxygen Conservation is a strong example of what can be achieved when teams who share a vision work together and we are honoured to have this groundbreaking project recognised at a regional level.”
Founded with the specific aim of tackling climate change and the biodiversity crisis, Oxygen Conservation works to protect and improve natural assets, generating a positive economic return as a result of its work, not as its purpose. The company is targeting the acquisition and management of 250,000 acres of land for nature restoration by 2030.
Rich Stockdale, Managing Director of Oxygen Conservation, added: “It’s only by creating these types of funding packages and frameworks with respected financial institutions that people can have the confidence to allow private finance to flow into natural capital at scale – thereby funding the protection of the natural world. This deal has already changed the industry. It has increased confidence in the bankability of natural capital and therefore achieved exactly what we hoped by laying a foundation for the urgently needed natural capital economy.”
The deal was supported by advisors from Burges Salmon, Womble Bond Dickinson, Strutt and Parker, John Clegg & Co.
Triodos Bank was also shortlisted by judges for Banking Team of the Year in recognition of its innovative work with Oxygen Conservation.
