High integrity carbon in practice: what the Gatwick Airport / Kent Wildlife Trust partnership tells us about UK voluntary carbon markets

We were delighted to support Kent Wildlife Trust in its recently announced partnership with Gatwick Airport to fund nature-based carbon removals and support Gatwick Airport’s net zero transition.  In this post, I reflect on the partnership and what it tells us about the state of voluntary carbon markets in the UK.

What is the partnership?

Kent Wildlife Trust (alongside Somerset Wildlife Trust) has entered into a partnership with Gatwick Airport, facilitated by Wilder Carbon, under which Gatwick Airport will invest approximately £1 million to deliver measurable carbon sequestration and biodiversity gains.  The Kent project focuses on Ironhurst Valley Nature Reserve, where former agricultural land will be restored and transformed into species-rich habitats.

The carbon captured through the project will offset Gatwick Airport’s residual emissions (i.e. those which cannot be eliminated after its planned capital works programme to reduce carbon emissions as far as possible).  As well as delivering this carbon removal, the project is expected to enhance biodiversity and ecological connectivity, contribute to flood alleviation and deliver long-term benefits for the local community.

Why is it important?

We have worked with Kent Wildlife Trust and Wilder Carbon over many years to help develop the industry-leading “Wilder Carbon Standard for Nature and Climate” and the legal agreements that underpin it for matching nature-positive corporate buyers with high-quality environmental projects that meet the robust standards.  The Gatwick Airport partnership is a fantastic example of the opportunity platforms such as this offer for landowners and conservation bodies to secure sustained funding for habitat restoration at scale, and for corporate buyers to align their decarbonisation strategies with demonstrable, local environmental impact.  With these opportunities come complexity: these deals raise interesting legal questions around the nature of the rights transferred, the interaction between land use and credit generation and the allocation of long-term delivery risk.   

This partnership also demonstrates the maturation of voluntary carbon markets in the UK, the move towards high integrity projects/credits, the increased scrutiny of offsetting claims and the integration of biodiversity outcomes and wider co-benefits (beyond net zero) into corporate sustainability strategies.

The language of “partnership” is important.  Rather than simply transacting for the cheapest carbon credits available, Gatwick Airport has chosen a long-term partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust (and Somerset Wildlife Trust) which will support a specific, local project that delivers verifiable carbon outcomes alongside wider environmental benefits.  As scrutiny and standards for natural capital markets and associated compliance and reputational risk continue to increase, securing a pipeline of high-quality credits at an early stage is a strategically sound approach.

And this chimes with our own approach.  Burges Salmon signed a landmark deal last year with Oxygen Conservation to secure carbon credits at the highest recorded price to date.  Part of the rationale for this was to show that responsible businesses like Burges Salmon prioritise high-quality, high-integrity carbon credits, and properly value their environmental impact. 

Please get in touch with Sarah Sackville Hamilton or another member of our Environment team if you would like our support for your business in looking at natural capital projects and environmental credit transactions.