Demystifying biodiversity finance

Author

Harrison Carter | DPhil Student

I am a PhD researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICSS) at the University of Oxford. With a background in finance and management consulting in London, my research explores realistic pathways for economic systems to better incentivise coexistence between people and the natural world. I lead the Incentivising Conservation research group within WildCRU and hold ongoing expert advisory roles supporting the design and scaling of nature finance interventions. I lecture on Oxford executive education and school access programmes, co-supervise PhD and Masters researchers, and work as a filmmaker and presenter on impact documentaries that aim to engage wider audiences with conservation optimism and local realities of project work.

My applied research focuses on the development and implementation of financial and non-financial incentives for conservation, with particular interest in sustainable conservation finance mechanisms linked to threatened species and wildlife that can be dangerous to live alongside, including venomous reptiles and large carnivores. Alongside my PhD, I am Director of Conservation at the Thousand Year Trust in Cornwall, where I support the restoration of Atlantic temperate rainforest. The Trust’s work has featured in outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, The Spectator, the Woodland Trust, and South West Rainforest Alliance reports. We are the winners of the 2026 Defender Awards, and 2025 winners of the On The Edge conservation fund to grow rainforest on ropes. A central ambition of my work is to create opportunities for exchange between UK restoration projects and global field sites, strengthening collaboration, innovation, and public curiosity about the natural world.

I am also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a member of The Explorers Club, and an Associate at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation (CEC).

Author

Sophus zu Ermgassen | Nature finance lead, Nature-positive Hub

Dr Sophus zu Ermgassen is Senior Research Fellow on the Oxford EARTH programme at the Department of Biology and the co-lead of the Biodiversity Finance research stream at the University of Oxford's Nature Positive Hub (with Prof Joe Bull). Sophus is an international research leader in biodiversity finance, nature markets and mitigating the biodiversity impacts of infrastructure, with specialisms in the financing of nature conservation projects and nature market and biodiversity offset design. His key case study systems include biodiversity net gain in England, and the international voluntary biodiversity credit system.

Sophus has won numerous awards for policy impact, including being named by the ENDS Report as one of the 100 most influential environmentalists in the UK in 2022 and 2026 and as the most impactful early career environmental scientist in the country in 2023 by NERC. Sophus runs and lectures on executive education programmes on biodiversity economics across several Oxford departments, and is the director of the Biodiversity Economics module on the University's Biodiversity Conservation and Nature Recovery Master's programme. Sophus consults for businesses, governments, and non-profits on biodiversity finance, biodiversity safeguards and nature markets. His work has featured regularly in the media, with over 100 media stories in the last 5 years. He has had numerous expert advisory roles in different UK government departments and the EU Commission, including in 2025 being named as the Specialist Advisor on Natural Capital to UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee.

Author

Joe Bull | Associate Professor Tutorial Fellow

My overall research interest lies in exploring, at the landscape scale, which components of biodiversity are the most crucial to protect and restore – given that ecosystems are dynamic, uncertain and subject to change. To do so, I work with simulation models and algorithms, large secondary (and occasionally primary) data sets, and spatial analysis of data including satellite imagery.

I have a particular interest in investigating the impacts of the private sector upon global biodiversity, and investigating mechanisms through which business can manage impacts and fund conservation and restoration activities.