Oil Executives: Seek redemption in nature recovery
Jeremy Leggett, former oilman and now founder and CEO of Highlands Rewilding, invites past and present oil-industry executives to spend oil’s ‘guilt’ money on rewilding
Who is Jeremy Leggett? From oilman to eco-entrepreneur
“Most oil-industry executives must surely see that atonement is needed now. And a great route to redemption is investment in the battle for nature-recovery”, says Leggett.
Talking of his own journey from a background in fossil fuels to a pioneering career, working at the forefront of the clean energy revolution, Dr Leggett said: “As the earth’s atmosphere warmed, like most I didn’t take much notice of it for my first 30 years, indeed I became a recruiting agent for the very industry that was fuelling the problem, the fossil fuel industry. I was a lecturer at the Royal School of Mines in London, training the petroleum geologists and engineers of the future.
“When eventually, in the 1980’s, I made the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and the earth’s dangerously rising temperatures, I decided to do something about it. So, in 1990 I joined Greenpeace as their head of science. It was a far from popular move among colleagues, but I wanted to stand up, make a change and be counted.”
Having realised the scale of the climate and biodiversity crisis we face, Dr Leggett went on to further his career as a climate activist, taking on a series of advisory roles, writing five books on climate and energy and latterly starting businesses to make the move from climate protesting to driving tangible solutions. After setting up the pioneering solar company Solarcentury in 1996, subsequently sold to Statkraft in 2020, he went on to found Highlands Rewilding later that year, with a plan to drive transformational change through nature-based carbon removal and biodiversity uplift projects on the land.
“I invite big oil and the fossil fuel executives to join us as allies in the nature-recovery battle we’re on the front lines of. We represent a tangible opportunity for oil industry execs to redeem themselves and help repair the damage they are causing.”
“Rewilding organisations like ours, who are battling to take nature restoration to scale at pace, need help to raise many millions of pounds if we’re to help reverse climate meltdown and biodiversity collapse significantly escalated by the fossil fuel industry.”
As we have adopted a mass ownership model, we are seeking capital in three ways:
The first is equity from ‘citizen rewilders’ - those with a belief in Highlands Rewilding’s ethos, via crowdfunding.
The second is equity from all-important financial institutions.
The third is the rest. This includes equity from investors of the kind who invested £7.6 million in the company’s start-phase round, including 50 Founding Funders: affluent rewilding enthusiasts, family offices, foundations, trusts and forward-looking companies.
So far, the crowdfund alone has attracted over 550 citizen rewilder investors, 40% of whom live in Scotland, who have boosted funds raised by over £850,000. This is despite a cost-of-living crisis, and we have been blown away by this support.
While no upper limit has been set for the crowdfund and founding-funder type investment running until the end of April, additional funds will us to scale nature recovery and community prosperity even more. With growing momentum, we’re aiming to raise millions more by the end of April.
For more information on how to support Highlands Rewilding’s vital work, visit: www.highlandsrewilding.co.uk/crowdfund
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more: https://invest.highlandsrewilding.co.uk/risk-warning Approver: ShareIn FRN 603332 [15/03/2023]