The Hidden Balance Sheet Beneath Our Feet
13th October 2025
Author EditorPosted on Categories Networking & Events
Why Sussex businesses can’t afford to ignore nature’s impact on profit – and how Iford Estate is turning biodiversity into real local value.
When we talk about business health, we think of turnover, productivity or cashflow.
But there’s another balance sheet. Often invisible but vital, it sits beneath our feet, working on assets which benefit us all…nature and biodiversity.
A recent study led by the Green Finance Institute (GFI), with a technical team involving the UK’s top researchers: the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford warns that nature degradation could slash the UK’s GDP by 12% – a deeper hit than either the 2008 crash or the pandemic.
When soils fail, pollinators disappear, and water systems break down – our financial economy breaks with them.
Put simply, without a thriving ecosystem there cannot be thriving business.
A Sussex Solution with Global Relevance
Just outside Lewes, Iford Estate is showing that restoring nature is not a donation, but a shared investment in the places we all depend on.
Through pioneering Voluntary
Biodiversity Credits, businesses can invest directly in restoring the South Downs, transforming the cost of environmental decline into long-term, measurable assets that strengthen both the landscape and the local economy.
Each credit restores and legally protects a 3×3 metre plot of the South Downs for 30 years, recorded transparently on Earthly’s public biodiversity ledger.
Investors receive an official certificate, what3words coordinates for their plot, and can opt-in to updates tracking how species are returning. For an investment of £200 +VAT per plot it is not only affordable and rewarding but also delivers on several key B Corps standards.
Ben Taylor, Managing Director, Iford Biodiversity Project:
“We’re not selling vague promises. Every credit represents restoration you can stand on.
It’s nature recovery made visible, verifiable, and local.”
More Than a Green Gesture
Covering over 800 hectares, Iford Estate’s ambition is to be one of southern England’s largest single-site nature recovery programmes.
Former arable fields are beginning to hum with life: wildflower meadows, woodland corridors, and thriving pollinators stitching the landscape back together.
May Robinson, Director, Iford Estate:
“Our ambition is to prove that biodiversity restoration and productive land use can work hand-in-hand.
Iford has always been a working landscape – now it’s working for nature too.”
And, it’s a team effort: oversight from the South Downs National Park Authority and reports from independent ecologists like Graham Lyons keeps every hectare accountable.
Nature & Business by Numbers
• UK ranks in the bottom 10% worldwide for biodiversity
• 1 in 6 species faces extinction (for birds it’s nearer 50%)
• 12% potential GDP loss from nature decline (Oxford University 2024)
• Each Iford credit = 3m² of habitat restored and protected for 30 years
Why It Matters to Sussex SMEs
For small and mid-sized firms, biodiversity might not appear on the balance sheet… yet.
But new frameworks such as TNFD and CSRD mean nature-related risk will soon join carbon and finance in corporate reporting.
Ben Taylor:
“Nature risk is business risk.
Whether you run a café, design studio or logistics firm, you rely on natural systems – clean water, healthy soils, stable weather.
Supporting restoration now builds resilience into your brand and your community.”
Local B Corp brands, hospitality groups and creative agencies are already adopting credits – using them to show customers real, local impact and to give employees something to believe in.
A Human Story, Not Just a Data Point
This project goes far beyond compliance or box-ticking. It connects on a human level.
Families buy credits as gifts or memorials; business teams walk the land they helped bring back to life. And for every brand involved, the reward is more than reputational – it’s a living link to the landscape that sustains them.
May Robinson, Director of Iford Estate, puts it simply:
“We’ve seen people buy plots as gifts and memorials – creating a living legacy, not just a plaque. Watching people reconnect with the land that keeps us all going is incredibly moving.”
Because the best stories aren’t just told – they’re lived.
And perhaps that’s true of investment too. Owning a stake in nature makes you part of the recovery, not just an observer. In a world where the wildlife crisis is unfolding on our doorstep, Voluntary Biodiversity Credits quite literally put the future back in our hands.
How to Get Involved
Iford Voluntary Biodiversity Credits can be bought by individuals, or by companies. Here’s how to get involved:
• Visit www.ifordbiodiversityproject.co.uk/vbcs
• Choose how many plots you want to restore (£200 + VAT each)
• Receive your what3words coordinates and request your digital certificate.
• Watch your patch of Sussex flourish – online or in person
Ben Taylor:
“When nature wins, everyone wins. Let’s restore something real, together.”
Watch the story come to life
Discover the Iford vision and meet the people behind it in this short film produced by MOREVER.