Environmental, Social and Governance Units

Three people walking along a woodland path in autumn

Companies Want a Real Stake in Your Land, Not Just a Certificate.
ESG units give landowners a direct way to work with businesses looking to offset their footprint or demonstrate social responsibility, funding wildflower meadows, habitat restoration or access days that support employee wellbeing. Every programme is built around your land and the company’s goals.

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How ESG Units Work for Landowners

ESG units give landowners a direct way to work with businesses that want to offset their footprint or demonstrate social responsibility, funding initiatives like wildflower meadows or habitat restoration on your land. As RICS-regulated Chartered Surveyors, we help structure these arrangements so they genuinely work for you, not just the company funding them.

Some businesses also want access to the land itself, offering their employees designated days for wellbeing alongside the environmental funding. Every programme which is built around your land and the company’s specific goals is developed collaboratively rather than applied as a template, so no two agreements need to look the same.

KEY CONTACTS

Toby Trotman
MRICS
Tunbridge Wells

01892 509280
Email Toby

Scott Smith
MRICS MRTPI
Tunbridge Wells

01892 509280
Email Scott

Wildflower meadow with buttercups and tall grasses in summer

ESG income can sit alongside grant funding too

Creating habitat or access as part of an ESG partnership often overlaps with measures already funded through environmental schemes, so it is worth reviewing whether your land already qualifies, or could qualify, before entering into a new agreement.

Explore Grants & Environmental Schemes

Common questions about ESG units

ESG units are arrangements between landowners and businesses looking to offset their environmental footprint or demonstrate social responsibility, often funding initiatives like wildflower meadows or habitat restoration on your land.

There’s no single set requirement, since every programme is built around your land and the company’s goals rather than a fixed template. It’s worth having a conversation rather than assuming your land isn’t suitable.

Either, or both. Some businesses fund environmental work like habitat restoration without needing physical access, others also want designated days for their employees to visit for wellbeing purposes. What’s agreed depends entirely on what you and the company want from the arrangement.

BNG units are created to meet a specific legal requirement tied to development. ESG units are voluntary, businesses choose to fund or engage with your land because it supports their own environmental or social commitments, not because regulation requires it.

There’s no fixed term, arrangements are usually set up to suit both the landowner and the company involved, and many run for several years rather than being a single one-off payment.