L’Oréal launches new fund for UK nature regeneration

L’Oréal has announced its new investment fund with The Real Wild Estates Company (RWEC) to support biodiversity restoration in the UK.

The L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration is the first large rewilding project initiated by the private sector. L’Oréal aims to highlight powerful nature-based solutions that can make a difference to the UK's biodiversity and help tackle climate change.

The company will restore up to 50,000 hectares of degraded landscapes across the UK and create around 1,000 jobs, including roles in environmental management, eco-tourism, tour guiding and organic agriculture.

The UK has lost more of its natural biodiversity than almost anywhere else in Western Europe, standing in the bottom 10% globally.

Based in Somerset, RWEC offers an innovative new approach to nature restoration, providing opportunities for communities to diversify and create nature-based economies. The company will source and manage estates that are suitable for nature restoration, regenerative agriculture and rewilding, with viable natural capital potential.

Julian Matthews, Founder and Managing Director at The Real Wild Estates Company, said: “The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, having lost over half of its original biodiversity.

"With RWEC, we aim to prove that investing in nature recovery can not only help to restore biodiversity and positively impact society, but also create new economic opportunities through tourism and natural capital to generate financial returns over the long-term. Our model makes nature restoration not only viable for investors, but also scalable across multiple landscapes for maximum environmental impact.”