Empowering sustainable land use

Who is Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council?

Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council are an inclusive membership organisation founded by 9 land-based businesses and organisations, including Knight Frank. By working together, we hope to transform prospects for farmers, landowners, the food supply chain and the wider economy.

Paving the way for sustainable farming

Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council aims to deliver transformative change to the industry by leveraging the collective expertise of its members. This begins with championing best practices, ensuring compliance with international standards, and addressing the undervaluation of natural capital by the economy and financial markets.

By adhering to global protocols, they strive to enhance decision-making, improve stakeholder communication, evaluate opportunities efficiently, and facilitate significant investment towards sustainable agriculture. Collective efforts will create a future where sustainable farming is rewarded, productive capacity is fortified, rural communities thrive, and food supply chains are resilient.

According to the WEF (2020), natural capital serves as the asset base for 53% of the global GDP, equivalent to $44tn. This highlights the need to excel in progress to ensure economic and social prosperity for the future.

Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council hopes to mark the beginning of a new collective era where natural capital is valued, and urban and rural communities collaborate closely to help achieve this.

Reliable carbon accounting in agriculture

DEFRA's (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) recent report titled Harmonisation of Carbon Accounting Tools for Agriculture introduces critical guidance for carbon reporting in the agricultural sector, addressing a longstanding demand from the food and farming industries.

The report, having identified 81 global carbon calculators, focuses on enhancing the accuracy of farm-level carbon assessments through 7 key recommendations. Among these is adopting tools that meet reliable data standards, and guidelines that support the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Dr Emily Pope of Trinity Global Farm Pioneers highlights the report's role in setting clear standards for carbon accounting, which is essential for the decarbonisation efforts and credibility within the sector.

She emphasises the significant impact of adopting tools that align with modern standards, such as Trinity's Sandy natural capital navigation platform, the only calculator noted in the report to meet these criteria. The launch of this report marks a significant step towards more accurate and trustworthy carbon accounting in UK farming, aiming to facilitate better access to carbon markets and support environmental sustainability efforts at the farm level.

Farm management software

Trinity AgTech has developed Sandy, a natural capital navigator. The software supports farmers by managing and interpreting the wealth of data that farmers both have and receive.

Sandy enables farm businesses to easily create a complete asset register of their natural capital and provide an assessment of carbon, biodiversity and water protection. From there, Sandy uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse various management changes and scenarios to assist with business planning and unlock the benefits of natural capital through trading, provenance, and compliance.

It provides clear, precise, and trustworthy analysis so farmers can work more efficiently with their business partners and advisors.

Fostering environmental progress through collaboration

We're pleased to work in partnership with Trinity Natural Capital Pro Council and sit as one of its founding members. The cause aligns with our company-wide ESG values. ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. These are called pillars in ESG frameworks and represent the 3 main topic areas companies are expected to report. We believe that we must ensure natural capital is measured, reported, and consulted properly and professionally.

We believe these combined efforts will foster enhanced trust, improve farm profitability, advance capital flows into agriculture, and propel environmental progress.

James Farrell, Head of Rural Consultancy at Knight Frank, commented, "We are on the cusp of something really exciting for the rural economy, but understanding the contribution that natural capital can make and giving people insight and depth into everything about it is critical. If we can achieve that, then we have a chance of really seeing the rural economy prosper in the years ahead.”

"There is a basic economic imperative in all of this, and that is filling the gap left behind by the basic payment. The need to not only match up with the government's environmental schemes but also find ways of unlocking private capital is going to be key to the financial longevity of many rural businesses.”

Regarding the partnership, Mark Topliff, Associate, Rural Consultancy at Knight Frank, commented, “Our clients like to know they are getting the best-in-class service. Our partnership with Trinity AgTech means we can offer a tool that adheres to more standards than any other carbon calculator and has the latest, most robust science in its development. This provides our clients with confidence in the output from Sandy and the decisions they make.”

How can we help you?

With a wide range of expertise and experience, our Rural Consultancy team is best placed to advise landowners and farmers on nature-based solutions and the additional income from these. Get in touch to find out how we can support you.