Funding and Sustainable Investment

Schools play an increasingly important role in the provision and management of green infrastructure. School grounds often represent some of the largest and most ecologically significant green spaces within urban and suburban environments, yet they are frequently required to fulfil this role under considerable financial and operational constraints.

At the same time, expectations placed upon schools continue to expand. There is growing pressure to demonstrate compliance with health and safety legislation, meet environmental targets, improve biodiversity, and provide high quality outdoor learning environments, all while operating within restricted and often uncertain budgets.

Historically, investment in environmental projects has been supported through Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funding frameworks. These sought to direct capital towards projects that deliver positive environmental and social outcomes. However, confidence in ESG has been undermined by the difficulty of evidencing genuine impact. In many cases, claims have lacked robust, quantifiable and site-specific data, leading to widespread concerns around greenwashing and a subsequent decline in investor confidence.

In response to this, new approaches to environmental funding are emerging which place greater emphasis on measurable outcomes. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Natural Capital Accounting and ecosystem service valuation are increasingly embedded within government policy and funding frameworks. These require organisations not only to implement environmental improvements, but to demonstrate them through defensible metrics.

Highwoods Arboricultural Consultancy seeks to support schools in navigating this changing funding landscape by providing a framework for evidencing real, measurable environmental improvement at site level. By integrating tree management, habitat assessment and site-specific works specifications with emerging biodiversity metrics, schools can begin to demonstrate tangible biodiversity gains within their grounds.

These specifications focus on practical interventions such as soil amelioration, facilitative planting, structural soils, water management and habitat creation. The aim is not simply to maintain existing trees, but to actively improve the ecological function and long-term resilience of school landscapes. In doing so, schools are better positioned to access funding streams that prioritise environmental impact, climate resilience and nature recovery.

This approach allows environmental investment to move beyond generic sustainability statements and towards evidence-based, site-specific outcomes. For schools, this offers a pathway to align statutory duty of care obligations with wider environmental objectives, while reducing long-term maintenance costs and contributing meaningfully to national biodiversity targets.

Get in touch

If your school is exploring funding opportunities linked to biodiversity, climate resilience or green infrastructure, I would be happy to discuss how your site could begin to evidence measurable environmental outcomes.