Oxfordshire’s Green Futures - Helping Oxfordshire unlock investment for a just transition to net zero and nature recovery

The Assignment

Oxfordshire has ambitious goals to become a net zero, nature-positive economy by 2050. However, delivering on this ambition requires significant levels of investment—estimated at £3.4 billion for net zero and £800 million for nature recovery by 2030. While the county boasts a world-class innovation ecosystem and a strong pipeline of green projects, the absence of a clear investment narrative, visible prospectus and cohesive platform for investors to engage with opportunities presented a barrier to securing critical green investment. Enterprise Oxfordshire (previously OxLEP), together with Oxfordshire County Council, commissioned 31ten, supported by Shared Intelligence and White Label. The goal: to develop a prospectus to market Oxfordshire’s vision for a sustainable future by showcasing green investment opportunities and the county’s commitment to net-zero targets and nature restoration, to catalyse funding and investment into Oxfordshire’s green economy.

The Role

31ten led the development of Oxfordshire’s Green Futures: Powering net zero, restoring nature, leading the transition working closely with Enterprise Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire County Council, and regional stakeholders to identify, prioritise and promote green investment opportunities to accelerate Oxfordshire’s just transition to a net-zero, nature-positive economy by 2050. Our multidisciplinary team delivered:

A comprehensive green investment pipeline, sourced via a region-wide, co-designed call for projects, issued to 70+ stakeholders that identified over 100 potential green investment projects.

A bespoke prioritisation assessment tool to score and rank projects based on environmental, economic and financial criteria. Of the 100 potential projects, 37 were longlisted and invited to participate in a further request for information. The responses enabled the projects to be scored, using the user-friendly tool based on:
- Strategic fit – alignment with national/local climate and biodiversity targets
- Investment readiness – clarity of ask, financial structure, and risk profile
- Deliverability – planning status, technical feasibility, team capacity
- Impact – carbon reduction, nature enhancement, and social value

The tool enables an auditable and consistent method to shortlist projects for promotion and can be used by officers to assess future opportunities. Based on this first round of prioritisation, four projects were shortlisted as investment-ready to feature in the prospectus.

A strategic final report, outlining the policy context, market dynamics, investor appetite and funding gaps—underpinning the proposition. This was informed through engagement with institutional and place-based investors (including Octopus, BBRC, PBII and Pensions for Purpose) to understand their requirements: this included the expected ROI, a blended approach to finance structures, risk appetite, and the impact metrics sought. These insights helped to shape the prospectus content with each entry articulating capital needs, expected returns, and co-benefits, to increase investor confidence and appeal.

A marketing and investor engagement strategy, setting out routes to market and communications activity.

A high-impact online prospectus and investment platform, www.oxongreenfutures.co.uk, launched at the 2025 100 Together investor event, showcasing the four shortlisted projects as investment-ready, alongside a wider selection of future pipeline projects — spanning low-carbon housing, green skills, and landscape-scale nature recovery. A digital format ensures the content is live and updateable.

Throughout, the project we took a highly collaborative approach, engaging stakeholders across local government, business, academia, and finance. The project aligned with key Oxfordshire County Council strategies such as the Pathways to a Zero Carbon Oxfordshire (PaZCO) strategy and drew on best practice in place-based impact investment.

Key Outcomes

The resulting Oxfordshire’s Green Futures platform positions the county as a national leader in attracting green investment. Key achievements include:

Visibility and credibility with investors, through a professionally curated, market-tested, suite of investable projects, aligned with investor expectations, and a neutral, accessible web platform.

Pipeline of four investment-ready projects showcased across nature recovery, green energy, and skills, backed by evidence and investor alignment.

Foundation for long-term investor engagement, including recommendations for follow-on events, communications, actions and tools to evolve the pipeline over time.

The initiative has cemented Oxfordshire’s position on the map for sustainable finance and provides a replicable model for other places tackling the challenge of financing climate action and nature recovery.