Second Nature

David Gerard has spent 30 years learning how to make people forget to be cool. From FAO Schwartz at six years old to the highest-rated show in Las Vegas, from Google's marketing floors to coaching Fortune 500 CEOs on stage presence, David has built a career at the intersection of wonder, attention, and human connection — and in an AI world that's automating everything else, that intersection has never been more valuable.Rich and David go deep on what magic actually teaches you about communication, perception, and leadership. Why the best performers — magicians, comedians, F1 drivers — all have one thing in common. Why authenticity is the only moat that AI can't erode. And why the conversation every leader needs to be having right now isn't about technology — it's about presence.This one covers everything from breathwork and breathwork to boardrooms, Darren Brown to data analytics, the Stanford marshmallow test to what it really means to build a career that's entirely, unapologetically you.

Carbon markets are broken. Not because the projects don't work — but because nobody has decided they should. Troy Carter, founder of Earthshot Labs, has spent five years building the end-to-end infrastructure to get serious money into reforestation and conservation projects worldwide. He's watched the market go hot, go cold, and watched good operators go bankrupt for reasons that have nothing to do with their work. Now he thinks the whole fragmented, mistrustful, acronym-ridden industry is about to consolidate — and whoever ends up at the centre of it stands to do something genuinely historic.Rich sat down with Troy in San Francisco during Climate Week to talk about why the demand problem is more real than the financing problem, why AI companies might be the unexpected saviours of conservation, and why he's been posting on LinkedIn asking if anyone wants to do a roll-up of distressed carbon projects. They also go somewhere most conversations in this space never reach — the sacred relationship between humans and the rest of this planet, and whether without that, none of this is actually worth fighting for.

Dimitri Theocharis grew up watching an economy collapse. So he left. New York, San Francisco, Harvard Business School. Then something unexpected: a climate startup in the UK that needed someone who understood both money and markets.Dimitri is now CEO of Ecologi, a platform at the intersection of carbon accounting, nature-based funding, and the voluntary carbon market — working with over 16,000 businesses and betting on a consolidation wave that will reshape the entire industry before 2030.We get into the AI arms race and why he thinks it's net positive for nature. The hyperscalers, space mining, the Elon rollup theory. The voluntary carbon market, and why most criticism of carbon credits comes from people who don't understand what they're criticising.And at the end — because Dimitri takes his biomarkers more seriously than most people take their careers — we get into longevity, nutrition, and why the smartest people in the room are quietly doing the boring health stuff everyone else ignores.

Tommy Ricketts is the co-founder and CEO of BeZero Carbon — the company that built the world's first carbon ratings agency, walked into COP26, and got told they were the single biggest risk to the carbon market. That was 2021. By 2023, the projects their critics were defending were in freefall.Tommy spent years at Bank of America training under a number-one ranked analyst, pitching ideas to hedge funds whose entire job was to intellectually destroy you. That background — combined with growing up the youngest of six in a single-parent household in Hackney — produced someone who understands both how markets actually work and why the environmental movement so often gets in its own way.He talks about why not every carbon credit is equal and why that's heresy to the people who built this market. Why a major tech company funded a project pumping millions of tonnes into the atmosphere and called it carbon neutral. Why 50 businesses in the carbon space are about to disappear. And why the faster this market gets boring, the better.One of the most forensically intelligent conversations Second Nature has ever had.

Britain's biodiversity market was two years old when someone tried to kill it. Not deliberately — just through the spectacular collision of political timing, an overloaded planning system, and a regulatory bottleneck that hit at the worst possible moment. In this episode, I sit down with three of the people who were there — Emma Toovey of Environment Bank, Fiona Milden of Oxygen Conservation, and Alexa Culver of RSK — the day after the Land Use Framework dropped, for the most honest conversation BNG has ever had on record.We get into why developers actually championed this policy — and then lost faith in it. Why legal loopholes designed for 25 square metres are somehow being claimed on 48-hectare sites. Why farming families who once slammed the door on habitat banking are now calling to get in. Why the polluter must pay — and why the protector must profit. And why, if we don't fix the exemptions regime soon, we risk hollowing out the very demand that holds this entire market together.This is BNG unfiltered. The failures, the fixes, the farming families keeping their land for the first time in generations, and what the next chapter of Britain's nature market actually needs to look like. We're still on dial-up. The question is whether we have the nerve to get to broadband.

Paul Beavis ran a €90 million global champagne business. He was the face of one of the world's most prestigious drinks brands. And he walked away from all of it.What he built next took three years of searching every great wine region on earth, 178 attempts to name a single product, and a back vintage tasting at Claridge's that nobody in the industry thought was possible.Wild Idol is the alcohol-free wine that serious wine drinkers are quietly switching to. This is the story of how it got there — the Canadian wilderness, the sommeliers who said no, the grand cru Bordeaux château that said yes, and the philosophy that runs through every single bottle.If you've ever thought alcohol-free wine was a compromise, this conversation will change your mind.

A $1 billion bet on nature sounds like impact.It’s actually something far more uncomfortable.Martin Berg isn’t guessing where this goes—he’s building it. From inside global finance to running a $1BN natural capital platform, this is what happens when markets collide with ecosystems. Land becomes strategy. Carbon becomes currency. Biodiversity becomes… investable.But beneath the ambition sits tension. Investors want returns, not ideals. Corporates want certainty, not risk. And the market? It’s still being invented in real time.This is the honest conversation most people avoid.What happens when you stop treating nature as priceless… and start pricing it?

Dimple Patel didn't arrive at the CEO chair via the usual route. She grew up on a council estate in the north of England, the daughter of immigrants who had their house burnt down and opened the shop the next morning anyway. She got to Cambridge on scholarships, traded through the 2008 financial crisis at Goldman Sachs, scaled a coffee chain to 37 stores and sold it to private equity, pivoted into tech, exited a second company days before the consumer market collapsed — and then walked into the biodiversity space to lead NatureMetrics, one of the most important science and technology businesses operating in the natural capital economy today.This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build something from nothing. About the work hard fallacy — why grit alone isn't enough and what you need instead. About what happens to your identity the morning after you sell the business you poured everything into. About why you should never tell anyone your company is for sale. About the real cost of debt funding, aggressive investors, and signing commercial leases without reading the small print. About building a culture that bridges world-class scientists and commercial operators. And about the one piece of advice Dimple would give her younger self — not to believe in yourself, but to trust your conviction that you'll find a way through.If you've ever built something, tried to build something, or wondered what separates the people who make it from the people who don't — this one is for you.

Can investing help solve environmental challenges — while still delivering strong returns?In this episode of the Oxygen Conservation Podcast, Rich Stockdale speaks with Ian Simm, Founder and CEO of Impax Asset Management.For more than two decades, Ian has been investing in companies that enable the transition to a more sustainable economy — from renewable energy and water infrastructure to smart materials and pollution control.Today, Impax manages around £25 billion on behalf of institutional investors including pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.But Ian’s journey into environmental investing didn’t start in finance.It began with adventure — travelling across China as a teenager and later crossing the Sahara on a tandem bicycle — experiences that shaped his view of the environment and the role business can play in protecting it.Rich and Ian explore how capital markets can accelerate environmental solutions, why renewable energy and water infrastructure remain some of the biggest opportunities ahead, and where climate and resource risks are still mispriced by global markets.This episode is about markets, leadership, and the long-term transition to a more sustainable global economy.

What happens when financial markets finally realise nature isn’t external to the economy — but fundamental to it?In this episode of the Oxygen Conservation Podcast, Rich Stockdale speaks with Vian Sharif, Founder of NatureAlpha — a company using AI and environmental data to help financial institutions understand how their investments impact the natural world.Today, NatureAlpha’s insights inform institutions representing over $25 trillion in assets, helping investors identify risks linked to biodiversity loss, water stress, pollution and ecosystem degradation.But Vian’s journey didn’t begin in finance boardrooms.It began with a transformative moment in Kenya that changed how she saw the relationship between nature and the global economy.This conversation explores the rise of nature risk in financial markets, the role of AI and data in conservation finance, and why the next major shift in investing may revolve around biodiversity and natural capital.Because protecting nature isn’t just environmental.It’s economic.

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.

English wine didn’t evolve — it accelerated. And now it’s facing the consequences.Ed Mansel-Lewis, Head of Viticulture at Knight Frank, joins Rich Stockdale for a wide-ranging conversation about what really determines success in modern wine — and why the industry is quietly shifting from rapid expansion to ruthless consolidation.From Champagne houses planting vines in Kent, to £30 non-alcoholic wines generating eye-watering margins, to marketing stunts that outperform heritage overnight, this episode pulls back the curtain on the economics, branding, and power dynamics shaping the future of wine.But this isn’t just an industry conversation. Ed opens up about leadership, emotional intelligence, mentorship, and the personal cost of building under pressure — at work and at home.

Nye Gordon, Director at Guidehouse, joins Rich Stockdale PhD for a conversation that moves fast — from politics to engineering, from nature markets to climate resilience, from imposter syndrome to the dream of working from a lochside in Perthshire.Nye argues that nature isn’t a backdrop to energy infrastructure — it is infrastructure. A tool for resilience. A shield for assets that are about to face more pressure than ever as the UK electrifies everything.They dig into the cultural clash between engineers and sustainability teams, the missing incentives for networks to invest in nature, and the massive opportunity for energy companies to become true climate leaders rather than reluctant participants.It’s practical. It’s provocative. And it’s a glimpse into a future where resilience-as-a-service, bold policy, and ambitious nature projects sit at the centre of how we power a country.If you care about climate, infrastructure, or the enormous transition already unfolding beneath your feet — you’ll want to hear this one.

Tom Sobey built Origin Coffee long before specialty coffee became a trend — and long before the industry understood what “quality” actually meant. ☕️This episode goes deep into the real story behind one of Europe’s most respected coffee brands: the early graft, the relentless focus on culture, the obsession with craft, and the uncomfortable decisions needed to scale without selling your soul.We talk about the defining moments — losing Soho House after years of partnership, watching COVID wipe out wholesale overnight, then rebuilding through a digital surge that reshaped the entire business. We dive into why Tom chose to bring in outside investment for the first time, and how that move was really about unlocking opportunity and protecting Origin’s future in Cornwall.Tom’s philosophy is disarmingly simple: surround yourself with people smarter than you, stay humble, and let quality lead every decision — even when it hurts. The result? A roastery with global credibility, a culture built on trust, and a brand that refuses to play the “race to the bottom” game.This isn’t just a coffee story. It’s a blueprint for building something timeless in a world addicted to shortcuts. 🔥

Dryrobe didn’t just invent a product — they created a culture.In this episode, Rich sits down with Tasmin Chilcott, the unstoppable force behind Dryrobe’s sustainability mission, to unpack how a cold-car-park problem became one of the most influential outdoor brands in the world. From a mum’s homemade prototype to GB Olympic kit, Dryrobe has become the Hoover, Dyson and Google of its category — and Tasmin reveals the real reason why.They dive into the stories no one sees: the 100% recycled materials, the circular economy push, the packaging trials that cut eight tonnes of waste, and the battles inside a company trying to build gear that lasts forever in a world obsessed with buying again tomorrow. Tasmin opens up about her journey from ocean conservation to carbon accounting to shaping one of the UK’s most values-led brands — and why the climate crisis will force a radical rethink of everything we design and wear.Community, restoration, wild swimming culture, charity partnerships, algae-based innovation, local hiring, B Corp ethics — it’s all here. And Tasmin doesn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead.If you want to understand what real sustainability looks like — and why Dryrobe keeps winning while everyone else greenwashes — this conversation will hit you harder than a winter swim.

What happens when an ecologist stops waiting for government — and builds the system himself?Professor David Hill CBE, founder of Environment Bank and the architect of biodiversity net gain (BNG), joins Rich Stockdale PhD for a conversation that rewrites the rules of conservation.From founding the UK’s first environmental consultancy to forcing Westminster to legislate for nature, David’s journey is proof that change doesn’t come from policy papers — it comes from people willing to fight the system.They go deep on:How BNG became law — and why it almost didn’t.Why private investment is the only route to large-scale restoration.The £45 million surge in biodiversity markets.And the creation of The Foundation for Nature — a ratings agency for the planet.This is not a polite discussion about the environment.It’s about power, persistence, and the business of saving the natural world.

Neil Beamsley doesn’t just build homes — he builds habitats.As Group Head of Biodiversity at Bellway Homes, Neil is leading one of the UK’s biggest housebuilders into uncharted territory: a world where development enhances nature, not erases it.From his early days in archaeology and ecology to shaping national policy on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Neil’s story is one of balance — between progress and preservation, ambition and accountability.He talks openly about Bellway’s decision to go beyond the legal minimum for BNG, the rise of off-site habitat banking, and why true sustainability starts with collaboration, not perfection.This is a conversation about how nature, business, and regulation can finally work together — and what it takes to build a legacy that lasts longer than concrete.

Scotland has just passed one of the most controversial pieces of land legislation in modern history — and we brought the experts into the Shoot Room for our first-ever round table to break it wide open.Rich Stockdale PhD sits down with Don MacLeod (lawyer and land reform specialist) and Crawford Mackay (partner at Galbraith) to dismantle the real implications of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill — the bureaucracy, the fragmentation, the unintended consequences, and the uncomfortable truths no one else is saying out loud.They go deep on:– Why parts of the Bill risk stalling Scotland for years– How fragmentation could cripple restoration, rural housing, and renewable energy– What the government got wrong about “big is bad”– Why land is national infrastructure — and why treating it otherwise is a mistake– And how Oxygen Conservation’s model is now being written into statuteThis episode is incredibly honest — with Don openly challenging key elements of the Bill and Crawford warning that the real and immediate risk is stagnation.If you want to understand what this Bill really means for communities, climate, investment, and the future of Scotland’s landscapes — start here.Honest, sharp, and essential. This episode will change the way you see land, power, and the politics shaping the places we all depend on.

Joe Stanley has spent his life on the land, but this conversation isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about the brutal, beautiful, and misunderstood reality of modern farming.A farmer, writer, and NFU environmental representative, Joe joins Rich Stockdale PhD to dismantle the myths about what it means to feed the nation while fighting climate change. From soil carbon and silvopasture to biochar and bureaucracy, he lays out the uncomfortable truth: the people growing our food are being asked to fix the planet without the training, funding, or time to do it.Together they dive into the politics of sustainability, the pressure on farmers to become carbon accountants, and why the future of food security depends on honest conversations — not headlines.This is farming without filters. Policy without spin. Hope without naivety.

They called Knepp reckless. Now it’s the blueprint for Britain’s environmental future.Molly Biddell, Head of Natural Capital at Knepp, joins Rich Stockdale PhD to talk about what happens when you stop controlling nature — and start trusting it.From the death of “sustainability” to the birth of new markets for nature, Molly pulls no punches on the realities of rewilding, regulation, and the courage it takes to let go.They talk systems thinking, privilege, burnout, and why the biggest barrier to saving the planet isn’t money or politics — it’s our fear of change.Knepp was once mocked for going wild. Now it’s proving that the future belongs to those who do.

What if the future of tech wasn’t about faster chips — but deeper values?Richard Peers, founder of Responsible Risk and former Microsoft and Accenture leader, has lived through every technological revolution from the birth of the PC to the rise of AI — and he’s seen what we keep getting wrong.He built alliances without power, sold the future to people terrified of change, and watched as the world’s biggest companies learned that timing, not talent, decides who wins. But now, Richard’s focus is shifting — from performance to purpose, from profit to planet.We talk about the 1980s wild west of computing, Microsoft’s cultural metamorphosis, and how evangelism built billion-dollar brands — before turning to what comes next: AI, geospatial data, and the urgent need to value natural capital before the planet sends the invoice.This isn’t nostalgia for the tech that built the world — it’s a call to use technology to rebuild it.

What if the best leaders stopped giving orders altogether?David Marquet — former US Navy submarine commander and author of Turn the Ship Around! — took command of the worst-performing crew in the fleet and transformed them into one of the best. His breakthrough wasn’t about charisma, authority, or discipline. It was about letting go.By replacing command and control with intent and trust, Marquet built a culture where everyone thought like a leader and acted with ownership. It wasn’t theory — it was survival, forged in the pressure of life underwater. Ten of his crew went on to become submarine captains themselves, proof that true leadership multiplies, not manages.In this conversation, Rich Stockdale and David dive into the hidden costs of bad leadership, the power of language in shaping culture, and why our obsession with control is killing creativity. They talk about burnout, vulnerability, the strange beauty of uncertainty, and the coming wave of AI that will force leaders to evolve again — this time faster than ever.This is not another management chat. It’s a challenge to rethink what leading really means — and to ask yourself the hardest question of all: would your team still thrive if you stopped giving orders?

James Shepherd’s journey began in a family boatyard in South Staffordshire, but his path was never straightforward. Growing up with challenges at home, he learned responsibility far earlier than most, lessons that shaped both his resilience and his ambition.From Cambridge to Knight Frank, from shaping land to shaping a family, James shares how he’s navigated the shift from son to father, and what it means to leave behind more than just a career: a legacy of love, adventure, and trust.This conversation is raw, reflective, and deeply human - an exploration of childhood, aspiration, and the kind of parent we hope to become.

What does “scale” really mean when you’re talking about saving the planet?For Carl Atkin-House — Head of Natural Capital Strategy at Climate Asset Management — it’s projects measured in tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hectares. Regenerative agriculture. Sustainable forestry. Environmental assets that prove nature can deliver institutional-grade returns.In this conversation, we go deep into the billion-dollar frontier of natural capital: where finance meets farmland, and impact has to perform at scale.Carl doesn’t deal in pilots or press releases — he deals in transformation. From Australia to the Pacific Northwest to the UK’s fragmented landscape, he’s building proof that investing in nature isn’t philanthropy — it’s strategy.We talk scalability, risk, regulation, and why natural capital could become the next major asset class — the one that defines the next decade of institutional portfolios.This isn’t a theory of change. It’s a business plan for the planet.

Andy Creak isn’t here to talk about sustainability — he’s here to rewire finance itself.After decades building fintech platforms and taking on titans like Fidelity, Andy turned his attention to the one market still stuck in the dark ages: natural capital. With his company Kana, he’s creating the digital infrastructure to make investing in nature as easy — and as powerful — as buying stocks or bonds.We go deep into the friction points no one wants to face: the absence of reliable data, the chaos of carbon pricing, and the urgent need for a valuation model that actually works. Andy explains why the real bottleneck isn’t interest, it’s investability — and why hitting $500 million of scale could trigger a financial chain reaction that transforms the entire sector.He also unveils his Guide to Investing in Natural Capital, built alongside some of the UK’s largest asset managers — a blueprint for mainstreaming nature-based investment and helping capital finally flow where it matters.

Alex Godfrey left a career in high finance to rebuild the rules of investment around the only capital that matters: nature. From the Bolivian Amazon to UK estates, he’s seen firsthand how regenerative agriculture, biodiversity credits, and carbon markets can reshape not just land—but entire economies.This conversation cuts through the noise on ESG and digs into the real questions: How do we make natural capital investable? What happens when carbon, water, and biodiversity become mainstream revenue streams? And should pension funds be forced to put skin in the game—1% of every portfolio—into projects that restore the planet?If you care about resilient businesses, regenerative economics, or the future of food and finance, this episode will challenge how you think about money, soil, and survival.Alex’s journey now continues with Great Yellow — a new venture built on the same vision: turning natural capital into real impact.

Guy Hayler doesn’t just talk about business as a force for good — he’s building the ecosystem to prove it.As co-founder of Blue Earth, Guy has raised £155 million for 60+ purpose-led companies and is connecting founders, corporates, and investors who actually want to change the system, not just tick a sustainability box.From the BE100 campaign filtering 1,000+ startups into the top 100, to BE Ventures backing companies reshaping energy, food, and finance, this is about moving capital at scale — and fast.We dive into why collaboration beats competition, why politics keeps failing the planet, and why the real battle is making sustainable business commercially unstoppable.This isn’t theory. It’s money, momentum, and a movement that could transform industries — and maybe the world.

Julia Armstrong D’Agnese isn’t selling software. She’s building Earth Knowledge — digital twins of the planet that Fortune 500s, governments, and insurers use to see the future before it hits.From hurricanes to droughts, supply chain shocks to financial collapse — the risks are here, but most of us are still blind to them. Julia and her team fuse climate, weather, and nature data into something more valuable than oil or gold: foresight.We talk about scaling a company that partners with Microsoft and NASDAQ, the brutal truths of climate risk, and the personal conviction it takes to build a mission this ambitious.This isn’t a story about tech.It’s a story about Earth’s… knowledge.And whether we’re smart enough to use it.

Peter Stein has spent his life proving that conservation isn’t about nostalgia—it’s about power, money, and strategy.From building urban parks in the South Bronx to managing Lyme Timber’s $900 million portfolio of forests, Peter has been at the intersection of land, finance, and community for decades. He’s seen how conservation easements can outlast politics, and how private capital can scale nature protection faster than government ever could.In this conversation we go deep into conservation finance, collaboration across unlikely partners, and the future of land stewardship in a world where natural capital is finally being priced in.This isn’t just about saving trees—it’s about re-engineering the relationship between money and the natural world.

Anika Staccone has always lived at the edge of forests and frontiers. From watching pine beetles devastate her childhood landscapes in Colorado, to leading research on nitrogen-fixing trees at Columbia, her path has been shaped by the question of how we truly understand nature. Today, as Product Owner at Earthshot Labs, she is fusing AI, geospatial data and field science into tools that don’t just measure trees, but unlock new ways of protecting them.This conversation is about why ground truth matters more than satellite snapshots, why conservation must be designed with people as much as with pixels, and why the future of carbon and restoration isn’t about billion-dollar projects but smallholders finally having access to global markets. We explore the role of ecotourism, the promise of AI, and the stubborn reality that nature will not be saved by numbers alone.

Can markets really bring ecosystems back to life?Tripp Wall thinks so — and he’s putting capital where most only put campaigns. As founder of Trailhead Capital and Pantheon Regeneration, he’s scaling restoration projects that don’t just conserve nature, but rebuild it: rivers, forests, biodiversity, and the communities that depend on them.We dive into the economics of regeneration — from voluntary carbon and regulated water markets to the AI tools tracking ecosystem health in real time. Tripp explains why environmental inflation is already warping balance sheets, why insurers and investors are starting to wake up, and how soil carbon, biochar, and even enhanced rock weathering could change the game.This is more than climate chat. It’s a blueprint for turning restoration into an investable, durable, trillion-dollar market — and a reminder that the future of finance may just depend on the health of the land beneath our feet.

Carbon markets could be the backbone of climate finance.Shannon Smith, Chief Commercial Officer at Chestnut Carbon, joins Rich Stockdale PhD to unpack one of the most controversial tools in climate finance. From planting 30,000 acres of diverse forests to signing a 25-year, 7-million-tonne carbon removal deal with Microsoft, Chestnut Carbon is moving at scale. Backed by JP Morgan, powered by LIDAR and data science, their projects aim to rebuild trust in an industry riddled with scandals.This conversation gets into the big questions: can we value nature without selling it out? What happens when Wall Street meets the wild? And is this the bold new future of climate action — or its biggest gamble yet?

Lauren Carrol, Chief Operating Officer at BrewDog, takes us inside one of the most talked-about sustainability moves in business: the acquisition — and sale — of The Lost Forest.From a dinner with David Attenborough to buying a Scottish estate, BrewDog has never shied away from bold, ambitious action. Their decision to pass Kinrara Estate on to Oxygen Conservation reflects a recognition that the project’s scale and long-term potential could be best realised through dedicated conservation stewardship.We dive into Carrol’s unconventional career path, the evolution of BrewDog’s brand, and the tension between commercial growth and environmental responsibility. She talks culture, leadership, and what it really takes to scale a rebellious beer company.This isn’t just about brewing. It’s about whether global brands can balance profit with purpose — and what happens when they try.

What if the systems meant to protect nature are actually holding it back? Tim Graham has spent 20 years inside the world of conservation, and he’s not afraid to call out what’s broken—and what’s possible.From reviving lost species and shaping national policy, to navigating bureaucracy and ethical minefields, Tim takes us behind the scenes of nature recovery like few others can. Rewilding isn’t just a concept—it’s a way to engage people, spark action, and challenge the status quo. He shares bold ideas that often go unheard, exposes where we’ve stalled, and asks the questions that will define the next decade of ecology.This isn’t a gentle discussion. It’s a challenge: to rethink, question, and push conservation further than ever before. Are you ready to be provoked—and inspired?

What if farming wasn’t broken — just funded the wrong way?Paul McMahon, Managing Director of SLM Partners, joins Rich to reveal how regenerative agriculture and forestry can become profitable, scalable, and investable.From cattle that restore grasslands to continuous-cover forestry, from carbon markets to “lighthouse” farms inspiring the next generation — this is about turning food and forests into a future worth backing.It’s finance, farming, and climate — but not as you know them.

What if the future of energy isn’t in building new projects — but rebuilding smarter ones?Franjo Salic, Chief Investment Officer at CEE Group, joins Rich in Rotterdam to reveal how repowering and hybridisation are transforming renewables. From turning a 50 MW solar farm into 140 MW on the same land, to combining wind, solar, and storage into resilient super-sites, Franjo explains the real innovations powering Europe’s clean energy transition.They dive into the economics of risk and return, the challenges of finding top talent, and why culture matters as much as technology. And at the heart of it all: Franjo’s belief that renewable energy is about more than returns — it’s about leaving a legacy strong enough for the next generation.This isn’t theory. It’s the future of energy, built today.

What if the conversations everyone else avoids are the ones we most need to hear?Shoot Room Sessions isn’t about safe answers or polite headlines — it’s about sitting down with people brave enough to rewrite the rules. Entrepreneurs, rebels, innovators, and misfits who don’t wait for permission.🌍 A huge thank you to our sponsor, Knight Frank, for making these conversations possible. Their support helps us dive deep into the crucial topics shaping a more sustainable world.Subscribe now and be part of the journey—because the future of conservation starts here!

Forget what you think you know about conservation.Jake Fiennes, Director of Conservation at Holkham Estate, is rewriting the rules of land management, biodiversity, and environmental investment in the UK. From bringing cattle egrets and white-tailed eagles back to Norfolk skies, to challenging centuries-old subsidy systems, to asking why ancient woodlands are still undervalued—this episode doesn’t shy away from the hard questions.We dig into the economics of nature, the politics of policy, and the power of bold, private action to create lasting change. Jake doesn’t just manage land—he transforms it, proving that conservation can be ambitious, profitable, and spectacular all at once.If you care about the future of our countryside, the survival of species, and how private landowners can reshape the game, this is a conversation you can’t afford to miss.

Jim Murray’s journey spans the bright lights of hit TV dramas, the creative world of art, and the urgent, often overlooked fight to save Britain’s rivers. As an actor, artist, and conservationist, he’s witnessed the highs and lows of industries that thrive on fear, desperation, and competition — and he’s discovered that the courage to stand your ground matters just as much on a riverbank as it does on a stage.Our discussion moves between the collapse of wild Atlantic salmon — whose numbers have dropped by 90% in just 50 years — and the choices we all face when deciding what we’re willing to fight for. It’s about power, responsibility, and using your voice for causes that truly matter.From navigating a competitive career to sounding a clarion call for a species on the brink, Jim’s story challenges you to ask: where do you draw your line, and what will you risk to protect it?Listen to The Last Salmon Podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/4vMbKt8JwOtUJ1NT9orQUW?si=d429a33dd37c4c22This recording takes place at the Opus Sales Gallery, set within the heart of Bankside Yards — Native Land’s flagship £2.5 billion development on the South Bank and the UK’s first fossil fuel-free major mixed-use neighbourhood. Opus was the first residential building to launch at Bankside Yards earlier this year and will become the tallest residential tower in prime central London.

What if the environment sector doesn’t really exist?Guy Thompson, MD of EnTrade, sits down in the Shoot Room to challenge the very idea of the sector, explore why £3 trillion in potential returns are being ignored, and ask whether nature markets are truly about environmental restoration—or just clever offsets. From regulatory roadblocks to bold innovation, we tackle the uncomfortable truths holding back investment in nature.Guy argues that without disruption, new technologies, and fresh business models, the sector will never be worthy of its name. We dig into what it will actually take to make nature markets investable, scalable, and genuinely impactful.This isn’t polite policy chat—it’s disruption, opportunity, and the fight to make nature markets real.

What does it take to run 694 acres of land, transform lakes and waterways, and launch a sustainable tourism program that wows hundreds of visitors - all while rewriting the rules of estate management?The Shoot Room Sessions travelled to Manor Farm to sit down with Ashlee Murrell, our estate manager at Manor Farm, to hear her untraditional journey from Manchester to Norfolk, from wedding planning chaos to running one of the most dynamic estates in the country. She shares the challenges, the triumphs, and the moments that make it all worth it.Listen in if you want to see how ambition, humility, and a love for the land can reshape leadership—and maybe make you rethink what’s possible.Want to stay at the beautiful Manor Farm Estate, book your getaway now: https://www.wildwithnature.co.uk/