Introduction
The Defra funded £1million Local Investment in Natural Capital (LINC) programme is part of the government’s Green Finance Strategy and will build the capacity and capability of local leaders and partners to attract finance at scale to:
- Create a nature-positive future, restoring habitats and biodiversity, and connectivity for people and nature.
- Deliver nature-based solutions to climate risks; improve water quality; reduce flood risk; sequester carbon; improve air quality; and provide urban cooling.
- Address socio-economic related inequalities in health by improving the quality quantity, and access to green and blue space.
- Strengthen the region’s green economy to provide environmental improvements and sustainable growth.
The ambitions of the LINC programme, to enable the public sector (and their third sector partners) to become more market-facing with their projects and programmes, will support delivery of the West Midlands Natural Environment Plan.
Find out more about the LINC programme in the document below, which was launched by the Mayor of the West Midlands in October 2024:
How will we achieve these ambitions?
The LINC programme aims to enable the region to be in a state of readiness to attract private finance into natural capital projects by building the capacity, effective governance arrangements, and capability of local leaders and partner organisations. By March 2025 we will:
- Build a regional Natural Capital Project Pipeline
- Fund pilot projects to transition towards investment readiness
- Conduct market research and build networks with investors and buyers
- Produce a Natural Capital Finance Strategy for the region
- Develop an Investment Vehicle / Fund / Platform
- Produce a Natural Capital Investment Prospectus for the region.
Get Involved
The West Midlands LINC programme is seeking to work with you to deliver for our natural environment and communities. Please get in touch with our team to understand how you can be part of the journey if one of these applies to you:
1) you are a business or funder and would like to find more about natural capital projects and investment opportunities in the West Midlands.
2) you have a project and are looking for funding, investment, or technical support;
3) you own or manage land in the West Midlands and are interested in exploring natural capital opportunities
To get involved please contact: WestMidlandsLINC@wmca.org.uk
How will LINC support local authorities, our stakeholders, and project delivery organisations?
The LINC programme will enable WMCA to build the capability and capacity of our regional partners. Specialist green finance consultancy support will be available to help transition projects to investment readiness.
If you would like to access this support and be part of a regional network we would welcome you in the LINC Community of Practice. Please contact us to get involved: WestMidlandsLINC@wmca.org.uk
Building a regional pipeline of natural capital projects
One of the opportunities we have identified is to develop a regional pipeline of projects delivering socio-economic and environmental outcomes which can be monetised via voluntary and mandatory nature markets to attract and distribute finance from both the public and private sector.
These projects are likely to be clustered into natural capital finance themes and we would welcome engagement from all stakeholders to help us build the framework. Natural capital investment themes currently in scope include:
- Biodiversity Net Gain & Woodland Carbon Code
- Nature-based solutions to support climate adaptation
- Green & blue infrastructure (including transport & housing projects)
- Nature recovery & connectivity
- Access to blue & greenspace
Building a regional finance vehicle for natural capital
Securing public and private sector finance at scale for the region will require more than a project pipeline. Investors and funders will require the system architecture to streamline transactions and provide assurance that all technical, legal, and contractual requirements are robust and verified.
WMCA will work with our green finance consultants to build the natural capital investment vehicle/fund/platform, legal entity, and governance structure for the region. By working at a regional level our ambition is to increase the scale and range of investment propositions, provide cost savings through economies of scale, de-risk investment across a portfolio, create stronger brand identity, and to provide a single point of entry to investment in the region’s natural capital.
For more information on the LINC programme, please see the documents below:
Further information on green finance and nature markets:
- An introduction to green finance by Defra can be viewed here.
- A Nature Finance Glossary developed by Ecosystem Knowledge Network can be viewed here.
- The 2023 Nature Finance UK Review by EKN can be viewed here.
- HM Government’s Green Finance Strategy can be viewed here.
- HM Government’s Nature Markets Framework can be viewed here.
Tools and Resources:
- Green Finance Institute Investment Readiness Toolkit
- Statutory Biodiversity Metric
- Green Infrastructure Framework
- Green Infrastructure Mapping Database
- Green Infrastructure Glossary
- Accessible Natural Green Space Standards in Towns & Cities
- The Environmental Benefits from Nature Tool
- Natural Capital Register & Account Tool (NCRAT)
- UK Tree Equity Map
Contact us
For more information, or to get involved as a project delivery organisation, landowner, or investor please contact us at: