‘Where nature needed us the most': one company's plan to discover and fund pioneering eco projects

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade – so the saying goes. In Belgium, the wording is a little different: when life gives you poop, grow flowers. The Belgium-born cleaning brand Ecover took this instruction almost literally. After experiencing strong sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, the brand decided to “fertilise the future”, by pledging to fund three eco pioneers of tomorrow, whose ideas are founded on nature-based solutions.

“When the pandemic hit, we were really influenced by people like Arundhati Roy, who talked about the pandemic as a ‘portal – an opportunity for a reset moment’”, says Tom Domen, Ecover’s head of long-term innovation. “We challenged ourselves to think how we could use this crisis to identify new ways to address the challenges posed by the climate and ecological emergency. While many businesses were struggling, sales of cleaning products were increasing. Could we ‘fertilise’ a more positive and hopeful beginning out of a time of crisis?”

• Volunteers surveying plant life

Several brainstorms later, the Fertilise the Future fund was born: a competition to find innovative organisations across Europe that promote nature-based solutions – concepts that work with, and enhance, nature to help mitigate the impact of the climate crisis on people. “Crucially, nature-based solutions deliver additional benefits,” Domen says. “Such as biodiversity, carbon capture and socio-economic benefits. The concept is grounded in the knowledge that healthy, natural and managed ecosystems produce a diverse range of services on which human wellbeing depends.”

Ecover created four categories for entries, which mirrored the key areas in need of scale-up, as set out by the Nature-based Solutions (NBS) Coalition following the UN Climate Action summit. These were: a) the conservation and restoration of forest and other terrestrial ecosystems; b) the conservation and restoration of freshwater resources; c) sustainable agriculture and food systems; and d) ensuring nature’s systemic role in sustainable development.

“We had never done anything like this before,” Domen says. “So we spoke to sustainability experts outside the business and our creative partners, who helped us shape the idea into what we launched in June last year.”

• Meadow creation: cutting Long Mead wildflowers with a forage harvester, field scabious and rare sneezewort plants on Long Mead

The response was beyond Ecover’s expectations, with more than 770 entries across Europe. The entries were whittled down to 21 finalists across three countries – the UK, Belgium and Germany – with one winner in each.

“Our initial response to seeing the entries was just how many ideas and organisations are in need of support,” says Domen. “And also how many great, innovative ideas and companies are out there. A number of times throughout the judging we wished our funding pot was greater to support more causes.”

Of the shortlisted finalists, nine were based in the UK, including the University of Leeds’ opportunity to transform Hardknott Forest in the Lake District to wild native woodland; the climate charity, Possible, and its community hedgerow planting; and the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country’s project to restore the River Stour for people and wildlife. On the subject of waterways, other finalists included Kent Wildlife Trust’s ambition to introduce water buffalo to restore an area of ancient fenland; Norfolk Rivers Trust’s mission to build wetlands to filter water and counteract pollution; the Marine Conservation Society’s project to prove the ocean can capture carbon at sea at up to 10 times the rate as the same area on land; and the Floodplain Meadows Partnership’s restoration of floodplain meadows. Somerset Wildlands pledged to bring back lost wildlife through rewilding, while Action for Conservation’s Penpont project, led by 20 teenagers, aimed to restore woodlands and waterways, and implement sustainable food systems.

“We spoke to every finalist and we were impressed with a number of elements,” Domen says. “First, the passion and dedication behind each project. Second, the scientific rigour embedded into a number of the projects. And third, the human element of each project.”

After the first phase of judging was completed by the Ecover team, external experts were brought in. In the UK, the judges were Nathalie Seddon, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford and director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative; and Natalie Fee, award-winning environmentalist, author of How to Save the World for Free, and founder of City to Sea, a UK-based organisation running campaigns to stop plastic pollution at source.

“Both judges encouraged us to think about where we could make the biggest difference with our funding. They reviewed all the finalists and were very supportive of the impact of each of them,” Domen says. “But ultimately, they encouraged us to go where they thought nature needed us the most – which led us to our final decision.”

The Floodplain Meadows Partnership project – formed of Long Mead Wildlife Site’s Thames Valley Wildflower Meadow Restoration Project, Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust and The Open University – was chosen to restore floodplain meadows along the River Thames and to promote their benefits.

“The Floodplain Meadows Partnership project brings a welcome sigh of relief to anyone who’s concerned about the catastrophic loss of biodiversity in the UK,” says Fee. “With 97% of wildflower meadows lost since the 1930s, our bee and butterfly populations have also diminished sharply, with many species facing extinction. This project will not only restore some of that habitat, but will provide important and pioneering data on whether floodplain meadows store even more carbon than woodlands.”

Both Fee and Seddon praised the winner’s collaborative approach. “It is well planned, based in strong local partnerships, and involves collaboration across science, policy and practice,” says Seddon. “The project also has a scientifically robust methodology for evaluating the multiple societal and ecological benefits of floodplain restoration over time, for example in terms of carbon, biodiversity and flood abatement, as well as for local communities, and has great potential for scaling in the UK and beyond.”

The fight against the climate crisis is not one we can win alone. But so much can be done when we work together – from individual action through to policymakers. “We know that as one brand there’s a limit to what we can achieve,” says Domen. “We are working on reducing our own carbon and plastic footprints, and our formulas are designed to reduce their impact on the environment. But we know that’s not enough. We have to go further and work in partnership with others if we’re going to help tackle the crisis we’re facing.”

Ecover was founded 40 years ago in Belgium with the ambition to pioneer cleaning products that reduce their impact on the environment. Find out more at ecover.com/fund