SOSE welcomes private finance pilot to help restore South of Scotland woodlands

South of Scotland Enterprise has welcomed a new private finance investment pilot that could mobilise £2billion in landscape scale restoration of native woodland across Scotland, including the potential for hundreds of millions of pounds of investment coming to the South.

A Memorandum of Understanding is now in place between NatureScot and financial partners. If successful, the pilot could unlock private investment in natural capital, with the aim of reducing emissions and restoring biodiversity through landscape scale nature projects.

Alongside NatureScot, South of Scotland Enterprise has supported the first pilot scheme which will begin in spring 2023. It is centred on the Wild Heart Borders Forest Trust project in the South of Scotland.

Professor Russel Griggs, Chair of SOSE said:

“This is an exciting project which has the potential to create vast opportunities through our fantastic natural assets in the South, for the benefit of the region’s environment and economy.

“This is highlighted by the initial scoping assessment for the pilot scheme which identified the potential for around 30,000 hectares of new native woodland in the South of Scotland.

"The assessment also highlighted the potential for between £200 and £300 million of private investment in the South, and around 6 million tonnes of carbon sequestration.”