Direct Partnerships

Direct Partnerships

These partnerships are helping to deliver nature recovery at pace across the South Downs National Park.

• First-Mover Environmental Leadership – King buys The First Voluntary Biodiversity Credit Sale (VBCs)

  King, the company behind the popular Candy Crush game, has become the first to purchase biodiversity credits under the South Down National Park’s, and partner Earthly’s, newly launched voluntary scheme. The company acquired 167 credits at approximately £170.50 per biodiversity ‘pixel’, supporting a nature restoration project in the South Downs National Park, Sussex.

  A biodiversity ‘pixel’ is a 3x3m2 parcel of land, which has been legally secured for nature- recovery for 30 years. King recognised their business impact on biodiversity and buying VBCs are an integrity-lead way of committing nature recovery.

  “As a company deeply committed to innovation, care, and making a positive impact, King is proud to support Earthly’s groundbreaking initiative. By purchasing voluntary biodiversity credits, we are taking a step towards biodiversity restoration and supporting the UK’s national goal. Our collaboration with Earthly reflects our core values and our dedication to making a positive impact on the planet.” Said Vikki Leach, Senior Director CSR and DECI at King.

  Tim Slaney, interim CEO of the South Downs National Park Authority, emphasised the growing corporate interest in environmental integrity and national biodiversity targets. Voluntary Biodiversity Credits are the latest additional to the SDNPA’s nature-based solutions.

  Lorenzo Curci, Co-founder and CCO of Earthly, said, “With the UK ranking among the most nature-depleted countries, it’s great to see companies such as King taking a leading role in exploring how new mechanisms such as this can help support nature restoration. We hope that over the long term, other businesses will start to account for their impact on nature and support projects like this.”

  The scheme developed by The South Downs National Park and Earthly, is the first of its kind in the UK. It adheres to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs’ (Defra)

  biodiversity net gain (BNG) metric with dozens of additionality measures in place by Earthly. The credits were derived from a legal land use change from landowners in the South Downs National Park. Each credit comes with a What3Words and represents an area that must be maintained for 30 years, ensuring long-term environmental benefits.

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