Linking ecosystem services and businesses through Green Bonds

大自然为我们提供了一系列的好处。例如，有证据表明，营造林地有助于净化水。改善水质对人类健康和福祉、农业产量、渔业和娱乐等方面至关重要。因此，几项政府政策的主要目标是保护和改善水环境(例如，英格兰林业委员会的企业计划、威尔士林地战略和苏格兰林业战略)。然而，树木不能简单地在任何地方种植。除了土壤和温度的生物物理限制外，林地创造的范围还受到缺乏适当金融工具和土地使用限制的限制。增加林地以改善水质的一种可能性是通过财政奖励鼓励农民创造林地。与授粉服务的农业环境计划类似，一些国家(如法国和德国)已开始为供水计划付费。然而，要想让这样的计划可行，这样的金融工具必须是长期的，而且容易获得。人们迫切需要一种可交付且高效的可持续商业模式。这个为期6个月的项目旨在争取研究人员的时间来设计这样一个新颖的商业模式。其目的是鼓励农民使用一种名为绿色债券的特定经济工具来创造林地。绿色债券是将可持续发展目标与创造自然空间联系起来的有效工具。绿色投资目前是增长最快的资产类别，年增长率为19%。与其他短期金融工具不同，绿色债券具有长期的附加值。考虑到生态系统服务的投资和收益之间的时间差，这对林业干预措施来说是一笔巨大的财富。此外，有相当大的潜力扩大绿色债券的范围，以加强生态系统服务。虽然2330亿美元的绿色债券投资中的绝大多数都用于减少碳排放(例如，12%投资于交通部门)，但只有6%投资于自然保护。在这个项目中，研究人员将咨询一系列不同的利益相关者团体，以调查使用绿色债券计划支付英国南唐斯地区净水的可能性。这是一项具有挑战性的任务，因为创造林地的绿色债券等金融工具的成功取决于一系列因素(例如种植的树种类型、农场的位置、种植和金融工具的时间和空间规模、种植园努力的机会成本(从其他地方损失的收入来看)、水质和水量的变化率以及随后水处理成本的减少)。此外，也许最关键的决定因素是不同利益相关者群体对政策的接受程度。理解它们的价值观和认知对于任何金融工具的成功都至关重要。拟议的项目将在六个月的时间里，在朴茨茅斯水务和南唐斯地区农民的背景下深入研究这些细节。该项目的直接影响将是降低自来水公司的水处理成本。通过创造林地减少地下水中的营养负荷和杀虫剂，将提高农业和渔业产品的质量。增加林地覆盖率也将有助于满足取暖用木材燃料的日益增长的需求：这是一个利基市场，在过去十年中，出于审美目的，这个市场越来越受欢迎。拟议中的商业模式将是英国首个此类商业模式。虽然法国和波兰已承诺发行数十亿美元的主权绿色债券，但英国尚未开立账户。预计这个新颖的项目将为在英国启动的第一个主权绿色债券铺平道路。

Nature provides us with a range of benefits. For instance, there is evidence to suggest that creating woodlands can help in purifying water. Improved water quality is critical for human health and wellbeing, agricultural yield, fisheries and recreation among several others. Therefore, a key aim of several government policies is to protect and enhance the water environment (e.g. Forestry Commission England's Corporate Plan, the Woodlands for Wales Strategy and the Scottish Forestry Strategy). However trees cannot simply be planted everywhere. Apart from the bio-physical limits of soil and temperature, the scope of woodland creation is restricted by the lack of adequate financial instruments and by land-use constraints. One possibility to increase woodlands for enhancing water quality is to encourage farmers to create woodlands via financial incentives. Similar to agri-environment schemes for pollination services, some countries (e.g. France and Germany) have initiated payment for water schemes. However, for such a scheme to be viable, such financial instruments need to be long term and easy to access. There is a strong need for a sustainable business model that is deliverable and efficient. This 6 months project aims to buy a researcher's time to design such a novel business model. The objective is to encourage farmers to create woodlands using a specific economic instrument called Green Bonds.Green Bonds are an efficient tool to link sustainable development goals with creating a space for nature. Green investments are currently the fastest growing asset class at 19% per annum. Unlike other short term financial instruments, Green Bonds have the added value of being long term. This is a huge asset to forestry based interventions given the time lag between the investment and accrual of ecosystem services. Furthermore, there is considerable potential for expanding the remit of Green Bonds for enhancement of ecosystem services. While the vast majority of the $233 billion of Green Bonds investments has been used for reducing carbon emissions (e.g. 12% was invested for the transport sector), only 6% has been invested in nature conservation. In this project, the researcher will consult with a range of different stakeholder groups to investigate the potential of using a Green Bond scheme for payment for water purification in the South Downs, UK. This is a challenging task as the success of a financial instrument such Green Bonds for woodland creation depends on a range of factors (e.g. the type of tree species planted, location of the farm, the temporal and spatial scale of the planting and the financial instrument, the opportunity cost of the plantation effort in terms of revenue lost elsewhere, rate of change of water quality and quantity and subsequent reduction in water treatment costs). In addition, perhaps the most critical deciding factor is the policy acceptability among different stakeholder groups. Understanding their values and perceptions is pivotal for the success of any financial instrument. The proposed project will delve into these details over the span of six months in the context of Portsmouth Water and farmers in the South Downs area. The direct impact of this project will be to reduce water treatment costs for water companies. Reduced nutrient loads and pesticides in ground water through woodland creation will improve the quality of the agricultural and fisheries produce. Enhanced woodland cover will also help to meet the growing need of wood fuel for heating: a niche market which is increasing in popularity over the last decade for aesthetic purposes. The proposed business model will be the first of its kind in the UK. While France and Poland have committed to several billion dollars of sovereign Green Bonds, the UK is yet to open its account. It is expected that this novel project will pave the path for the first sovereign Green Bonds to be initiated in UK.