Second Nature

What if the fastest way to fund nature isn’t through donations… but through the global payments system?

Will Foulkes left elite structured finance at a Magic Circle law firm to build something radical: a “green margin” embedded into everyday transactions that automatically funds nature restoration.

From adding 1p to supermarket products, to integrating directly into Europe’s largest payment processor, this conversation goes far beyond sustainability theory. It’s about rewiring capitalism itself.

Rich and Will explore why philanthropy won’t scale, why pension funds demand standardisation and 8% returns, and why nature must become a true asset class if we’re serious about rewilding half the planet.

They unpack high-volume micro-transactions, invisible ESG impact, institutional capital, and what it really takes to move global markets.

If you care about business, finance, retail, or the future of conservation — this episode will change how you think about scale.

The technology exists. The model works.

The only question left is: who moves first?

Everyone thinks Oxygen Conservation is a land company.

It’s not. It’s a data platform from its absolute DNA.

In this rare behind-the-scenes conversation, Rich sits down with the team building the engine that powers every acquisition, every restoration plan, and every carbon model. From screening every square metre of the UK using 50+ datasets, to deploying drones capturing 3cm resolution imagery, to building digital terrain models and LiDAR maps that expose what the naked eye can’t see — this is the infrastructure beneath modern natural capital.

They unpack how Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) is becoming the backbone of investable conservation, why most of the sector is still stuck in the analogue age of PDFs, and how data is transforming nature from “nice idea” into measurable asset class.

If conservation is going to compete with private equity, real estate and infrastructure, it needs numbers, not narratives.

This is the story of the operating system behind Scaling Conservation — and why the future of nature is digital.

Rob Gardner isn’t trying to make nature sound good. He’s trying to make it investable.

As CEO of Rebalance Earth, he’s building the UK’s first natural capital asset manager — structuring real revenue models around flood mitigation, water resilience, peatland restoration, and even oyster reefs. With a £25m cornerstone portfolio backed by West Yorkshire Pension Fund, this is institutional capital moving into ecosystems — not as philanthropy, but as infrastructure.

We explore how ecosystem services can generate long-term, pension-grade cashflows, why nature risk is still missing from trustee dashboards, and what it will take to turn biodiversity and climate resilience into a recognised asset class.

This isn’t ESG. It’s a blueprint for repricing nature at scale.

What does real leadership look like when the country’s rivers are polluted, the public is angry, and the system feels stuck?

Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, has lived both sides of the fight — from environmental lawyer inside the corporate machine to leading one of the UK’s most recognisable grassroots movements.

This is not a comfortable conversation.

Rich and Giles go head-to-head on profit versus public good, the ethics of finance in an environmental crisis, and whether the law is powerful enough to deliver real change. They explore what it takes to mobilise 100,000 members without losing credibility, how to balance disruption with influence, and why the next Water Bill could define the next decade of environmental campaigning.

This episode is about power. Strategy. Courage. And the difference between shouting from the sidelines and leading in the storm.

If you care about clean water, ethical investment, or the future of environmental leadership — this one will challenge you.

Most banks talk about values. Very few are willing to let those values shape decisions.

Mark Clayton, CEO of Triodos Bank UK, leads a bank that treats impact as a discipline, not a slogan. Having worked at the heart of big finance, he understands how neutrality, risk, and growth are used to avoid responsibility — and what it takes to do things differently.

This conversation goes inside the real trade-offs of values-led banking: how credit decisions are made, why nature-based solutions challenge traditional finance, what ethical AI governance actually looks like, and how leadership changes when impact isn’t optional.

This isn’t a story about fixing banking with better narratives. It’s about what happens when values are allowed to drive the system.

Triodos Whitepaper: https://www.triodos.co.uk/press-releases/2025/triodos-bank-targets-sharply-reduced-emissions-and-wants-to-finance-275-energy-transition-projects-by-2030

Why expand into Europe now — and why Elena Doms?

This conversation marks a defining moment for Oxygen Conservation as it steps into Europe, with Elena Doms joining as Director of Europe. It’s not an expansion driven by ambition alone, but by timing — capital is mobilising, regulation is hardening, and credibility is suddenly the limiting factor.

Rich Stockdale and Elena unpack what it really takes to scale natural capital across Europe: the regulatory complexity, the cultural differences, the need for data and delivery on the ground, and why execution — not intention — will decide who succeeds. Elena shares why, after years working at the intersection of sustainability, finance, and policy, she chose to commit to a platform built around land, transparency, and measurable impact.

This is a conversation about Europe’s readiness, the risks of getting it wrong, and what happens when land, capital, and accountability finally collide.

What does elite talent really look like in conservation — and why do most hiring systems miss it completely?

Rowan Martin is a walking contradiction to the sector’s stereotypes. A PhD scientist in butterfly vision. A mountain biker with an instinctive grasp of risk. An estate manager running real land, real projects, and real decisions in West Wales. A mother, creator, and operator who refuses to separate who she is from how she works.

This conversation goes far beyond ecology. We get into why CV-led recruitment fails, how high-performance cultures are actually built, and why character, standards, and mindset matter more than tidy career paths. Rowan shares her journey from academia to action, how she balances leadership with authenticity, and why conservation done properly is uncomfortable, physical, and deeply human.

We also explore risk — on the bike, on the land, and in business — community trust, volunteer culture, and what happens when you give exceptional people the freedom to be fully themselves.

This isn’t a story about fitting in. It’s about raising the bar.

If you care about talent, leadership, or how the future of nature is really being built — this one matters.

British politics has a problem — and it isn’t policy. It’s belief.

Ben Gascoigne has lived at the heart of the machine. From Downing Street to the House of Lords, he’s seen how power is won, how it’s lost, and why so many leaders fail to hold the country’s attention once they get there.

This conversation cuts straight through the spin. Why politics feels empty. Why no one’s listening. Why authenticity beats caution every time. And why playing it safe might be the most dangerous strategy in modern leadership.

We talk about the realignment reshaping British politics, the growing appeal of figures who say what they think, and the vacuum left when leaders refuse to own a vision. From Brexit to Farage, Starmer to Blair, this is an unfiltered look at what actually moves people — and what doesn’t.

But this isn’t just about elections. It’s about pressure, sacrifice, and the personal cost of life inside the system. The adrenaline. The burnout. And the moment when politics stops being abstract and starts hitting home.

If you want to understand why British politics feels stuck — and what it would take to change it — this conversation doesn’t look away.

Britain’s food system looks calm on the surface. Underneath, it’s under strain.

Tom Bradshaw, President of the NFU, sits down with Rich Stockdale for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to feed 70 million people — and why UK farming is being pushed to the edge. From balancing family life with national leadership, to fighting for farmers inside Westminster, Tom pulls back the curtain on the political, economic, and emotional realities of modern agriculture.

This isn’t nostalgia for farming’s past. It’s a hard look at its future.

They dig into why UK farmers are exposed to global markets without the protections enjoyed elsewhere, how trade deals and regulation are quietly reshaping what we grow, and why food security should be treated with the same seriousness as defence and energy. Tom challenges the idea that cheap food is a success story — and explains the real cost it’s storing up for the country.

The conversation moves beyond policy into purpose: what farmers stand for, why public trust matters, and how resilience — economic, environmental, and human — is the only way forward.

And just days before Christmas, that pressure finally broke through. Following sustained NFU campaigning, industry-wide backing, and direct engagement with the Prime Minister, the government confirmed a major shift on inheritance tax. The threshold will now rise to £2.5 million — or up to £5 million when spousal transfers are included — meaning most family farms will be able to pass to the next generation intact. It’s not perfect, and the fight isn’t over, but for many farmers it’s a decisive step back from the brink.

As Tom puts it: farming stood together when it mattered — and it will keep pushing until the system finally works for those who produce our food.

Alok Sama has lived where most people only speculate. Inside Morgan Stanley. Inside SoftBank. Inside the long, lonely thinking of Masayoshi Son.

Rich and Alok strip away the mythology of success — the status, the deals, the adrenaline — and examine what’s left when the noise dies down. From the absurd rituals of high finance to the quiet psychological cost of ambition, this is an unvarnished look at what it really takes to operate at the edge of global power.

They explore how language shapes truth in books, why self-deception might be a prerequisite for building anything meaningful, and why the world’s great outliers, Son, Musk, tech’s true visionaries, look ridiculous right up until they bend reality. AI enters the frame not as hype, but as a force already reshaping work, value, and intellectual relevance.

The conversation also turns inward: leaving a high-adrenaline career, stepping into writing, and discovering that reflection can be more confronting than any boardroom battle.