Marsh orchids. Credit: Natural England/Neil Pike
Today, the Government has published its 30by30 Delivery Plan, backed by funding of up to £37 million a year over the next three years to accelerate practical action for nature. The plan sets out how government, landowners, farmers, businesses and communities will work together to effectively conserve and manage 30% of England’s land for nature by 2030, as part of the UK’s wider international commitment to protect 30% of land and sea. Achieving this ambition will require action across society, including greater involvement from businesses and volunteers.
In this guest blog, Nicky O’Malley, CEO of 30x30 UK – an independent organisation that is separate from the Government’s 30by30 policy and programme – explains how its Groundwork Business Volunteering Platform is connecting businesses and their employees with nature-recovery projects across the UK.
Volunteering is healing, effective and, one of the most powerful tools we have for nature recovery.
The UK has committed to protecting and managing 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. This is a goal the team at 30x30 UK believe in deeply.
It’s the reason we are building an all-of-society movement that enables people to connect with nature recovery and take part directly. Connection is the key, and it’s led us to begin building a platform which we see as the national volunteering engine for nature.
The current statistics and opinions are clear on the scale of the opportunity is clear. Only around 1-2% of major UK enterprises currently support nature restoration[1]. At the same time, research found that 18 million employee volunteering days went unused in the UK last year[2]. Natural England’s People and Nature Survey for England also found that 85% of adults say nature boosts their happiness[3].
So let’s all get out there and make a difference
Volunteering matters so much for nature because nature recovery needs people, it can’t be restored through policy alone. We often talk about nature recovery in terms of hectares, species counts, and carbon sequestration and while these are all important metrics, it’s the community of people who go out onto the land and into the woods which makes the real tangible difference, and where nature really starts to recover.
Research shows that hands‑on conservation volunteering can significantly improve biodiversity outcomes, from increased pollinator abundance to improved soil health (Conservation Evidence, 2022). Many small nature organisations rely on volunteers for more than 50% of their operational capacity. Without people taking part, restoration simply doesn’t scale. The UK’s nature sector needs time, skills, and energy and this is where businesses can meaningfully deploy their people in a way that’s good for nature, business and, wellbeing for all.
Over my career, I’ve had conversations and spent time with hundreds of organisations across multiple industries and what I’ve learned is that leaders want to support nature, they just haven’t yet had the pathway to do so.
At 30x30 UK, we know when teams spend time in nature, something shifts. Employee wellbeing improves; nature reduces stress, boosts mood, and increases cognitive performance (Natural England, 2020). Team building occurs through shared physical tasks, creating a sense of purpose and belonging that’s hard to replicate in meeting rooms. And, skills and knowledge grow, many nature projects require problem solving, leadership, and adaptability. All competencies that can be taken back into the organisation.
Supporting local nature recovery helps businesses build trust and legitimacy in the communities where they operate, as the impact can be seen first-hand. This is where Groundwork comes in.
What is 30x30 UK’s Groundwork Business Volunteering Platform?
Groundwork is a corporate nature volunteering and restoration platform designed to removed the friction that has potentially held businesses back from engaging with nature. A national volunteering engine designed to mobilise the 99%, and make nature restoration accessible to people and organisations who want to participate and take action. Today, more than 140,000 people already have access through their organisations, which demonstrates the support we know is out there.
Through 30x30 UK’s Groundwork Business Volunteering Platform, we provide:
full UK coverage, with access to thousands of restoration locations concierge team booking, handling everything from risk assessments to logistics skillsbased volunteering, enabling fully remote, inclusive opportunities for every employee executive and client days, hosted by nature obsessed experts impact reporting, with up to 20 trackable metrics aligned to recognised standardsAs someone who has worked in the nature sector for over 20 years, I have volunteered countless times and visited multiple restoration sites, and the feedback is pretty much always the same, people leave feeling differently from how they arrived. Spending time in nature can be humbling, you come away feeling energised, standing a little taller, understanding how important it is, and knowing that you can make a difference. This is what we’re trying to unlock at scale.
Our Groundwork Business Volunteering Platform is only part of the solution to the biodiversity crisis, but it’s one that’s practical, accessible, human, and brings hundreds and thousands more people into the movement for nature recovery. If we are to meet the UK’s 30by30 commitment, then we need everyone.
What’s next?
My hope is that businesses across the UK begin to see nature as a shared responsibility and realise how much we need it.
I want volunteering to become part of everyday working life, so we can close the gap between those 18 million unused days, and start doing the nature restoration work waiting to be done.
Participation is something every organisation can offer. If you’re considering how your teams can play a part in UK nature recovery, we’d love to share what we’re learning and how you can get involved. Volunteering opportunities include meadow management and habitat maintenance, citizen science, tree planting and woodland creation, and community greenspace improvements.
Footnotes
[1] Mircosoft Estimated based on a composite analysis of UK corporate ESG disclosures (FTSE 350), voluntary carbon and biodiversity registry filings, and the Green Finance Institute’s Finance Gap for UK Nature reporting. Tracking of corporate capital allocations indicates that less than 2% of these organizations directly fund domestic Nature restoration within the UK.
[2] Civil Society https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/140-million-volunteering-hours-unused-by-uk-employees-research-finds.html
[3] Natural England https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2025/09/30/celebrating-five-years-of-the-people-and-nature-surveys-what-weve-learned-about-englands-love-for-the-outdoors/
https://defraenvironment.blog.gov.uk/2026/07/13/powering-30by30-commitment-through-volunteering/
seen at 14:30, 13 July in Environment.