One Investor’s Uphill Battle to Turn Rewilding Into a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

Leggett joins a growing body of environmentally-minded businessmen. Photographer: Lorna MacKay/Bloomberg ,

Everyone involved is betting Scotland will soon pass a law that forces companies to make up for their environmental impact by funding protection elsewhere. Similar regulation was due to enter effect in England later this year, but has been delayed. They’re also eyeing a global, unregulated market for the credits that’s gotten a boost from a commitment by almost 200 countries to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and new guidelines for business to address nature-related risks.

Leggett set up Highlands Rewilding in 2020 with proceeds from the sale of Solarcentury, a company he founded in the 1990s that became one of the UK’s largest solar panel providers. He likens the opportunities in what he calls the “nature recovery industry” to the nascent renewables sector 30 years ago. “It feels like groundhog day,” he said.

Others are skeptical that the biodiversity credits market can gain traction and that it won’t face the same problems as carbon offsets, which are much more widespread. Three decades after the carbon market was set up, it’s still plagued with questions over whether the credits deliver on their promised climate benefits. Multiple cases have emerged of companies manipulating baselines or claiming credits for forests that were never threatened.

“Whether around the move to sheep and then the move to deer and the move to trees and the move to renewables, Scotland's land has always been seen as an open book,” said Ailsa Raeburn, chair of Community Land Scotland, an organization for community landowners. Leggett has tried to reassure locals by signing an agreement with a community group that includes a no-eviction policy for tenants and provisions for local jobs. He’s pledged to ensure any houses built or sold on the land are primary residences, rather than second homes or tourist accommodation, and to involve the local community in new policies and business plans, though they won’t have veto rights.

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