Nature Outcomes Catalogue — Calculate your project cost

1. Project details

Define the project at the top level, what it does, where, and over what period.

Project name

Location

Protection or restoration

Project description 280 characters remaining

Project lifespan

30 years

Project areaℹ︎Needed to scale a protocol rate (hectares of woodland, peat or farmland) into a catalogue quantity. Choose Not applicable if the project is not measured in hectares — for example a length of river, a count of nests, or a site with no mapped area.

10 ha

This project is not measured in hectares.

2. Primary outcome

The priority environmental outcome this project is designed to deliver. Cost-effectiveness will be based on the cost to deliver each unit of this outcome.

Primary outcome

How will you deliver this outcome? ℹ︎The on-the-ground action that produces this outcome — planting woodland, rewetting bog, a buffer strip. This is not who pays (that stays in financing). Choosing an action fills a suggested quantity from the protocol tables; you can override it.

Select a primary outcome above to see matching project types in our database.

Outcome unit(auto)

Outcome quantity

Uncertainty haircut 0%

How this outcome scales over time ℹ︎Nature outcomes do not accrue in a straight line — a woodland takes decades to mature while a flood barrier delivers most of its benefit immediately. The delivery curve describes how your outcome builds up year by year, and affects how cost-per-outcome is calculated in the Normalised view for projects longer than 30 years.

Shape assignments are derived from field evidence (RSPB, Natural England, Forestry Commission, Environment Agency and others). The justification for your outcome's default shape is shown in the ℹ︎ next to the shape pills.

Select a primary outcome above to choose its delivery pattern.

How was this outcome quantified? (optional) 0/400

3. Co-benefits (optional)

Additional environmental outcomes the project produces alongside the primary one. These are recorded but not priced, the catalogue prices outcomes one at a time.

Co-benefit

How will you deliver this outcome?

Select a co-benefit above to see matching project types in our database.

Outcome unit(auto)

Outcome quantity

Uncertainty haircut 0%

How was this outcome quantified? (optional) 0/400

4. Direct costs

The cash costs of designing, building, running and administering the project. One-off development at the start; capital works over a construction window; ongoing maintenance and administration over the project's life.

Development cost (£)

Annual administration (£/yr)

Capital cost (£)

Capital period

Year 1

Annual maintenance (£/yr)

Maintenance period

Years 1–30

5. Opportunity costs

The value foregone by using land for nature rather than its next-best alternative use, usually farming income.

Opportunity cost typeℹ︎How opportunity cost is treated for this project.

Minimal opportunity cost, for projects on land with little or no productive alternative use (e.g. derelict urban sites, unproductive uplands, river corridors). Opportunity cost is set to zero or near-zero.

Foregone income from farming, for projects taking productive agricultural land out of food production. Opportunity cost equals the farm income that would otherwise have been earned, by land grade and farm type.

Other, for projects where the foregone use is neither agricultural nor negligible (e.g. forestry, development land). Enter the foregone value manually.

Descriptionℹ︎Optional free text, for example the basis of the opportunity cost figure, any non-agricultural foregone uses, or notes on why this project sits at the low or high end of the range. 0/50

Use land grade proxy?ℹ︎Land grade is a standard measure of agricultural productivity. Each UK nation classifies its land on a scale from the most productive (capable of growing a wide range of crops) to the least productive (severely limited for agriculture). It is a reasonable proxy for the income a hectare would generate under typical farming.

Select Yes to use a lookup table of typical net farm income by land grade. Select No to enter a per-hectare opportunity cost manually, for example if you have farm accounts or a specific local figure.

Manual opportunity cost (£/ha/yr)ℹ︎The farm income foregone per hectare, per year, by taking this land out of production. Use net farm income (revenue minus variable costs and direct payments), not gross output. If you do not have a specific figure, enable the land grade proxy above for a standard lookup value.

Project scale (in hectares)ℹ︎Scale of the project in hectares is set in section 1 above.

6. Financing & delivery

Choose how each cost is funded, and — optionally — the delivery mechanism it runs through. The mechanism list is filtered to what fits the funding type and grouped by delivery category; a project can carry several. The cost of capital reflects each funder's return expectations: grants, donations and self-financing carry zero; investment carries a variable rate.

Development finance source Delivery mechanism (optional)

Capital finance source Delivery mechanism (optional)

Maintenance finance source Delivery mechanism (optional)

Administration finance source Delivery mechanism (optional)

Opportunity finance source Delivery mechanism (optional)

Annualised cost of financing ℹ︎Grant or donationNo financing cost is applied to grants or donations. The 3.5% HM Treasury Green Book discount rate is used to compute the present value of the project, not as a cost of capital.CashflowNo financing cost is applied. Projects funded directly out of operating cashflow carry a 0% rate.InvestmentA financing cost is applied when a project is funded by private investment. Repayment approach

Investor rate of returnℹ︎InvestmentThis represents the investor's target internal rate of return (IRR), expressed in real terms.The suggested default is the UK gilt yield for your investor term plus a 4% private-investment premium (table below). The tick on the slider marks that default. Drag to set your own cost of capital; Reset returns to the suggested rate.TenorGiltPrivate1yr−0.6%3.4%2yr−0.3%3.7%3yr0.1%4.1%5yr0.7%4.7%10yr1.4%5.4%15yr1.7%5.7%20yr2.0%6.0%25yr2.1%6.1%30yr2.2%6.2%40yr1.9%5.9%50yr1.8%5.8%60yr1.8%5.8%
Gilt yields: UK Debt Management Office and Bank of England published yield curves, via giltsyield.com/bond/inflation
Green Book STPR (3.5% real): HM Treasury, The Green Book (2022)
Correct as of April 2026.

5.70%

Investor termℹ︎The horizon of the investment: the period until the investor has recovered their capital and required return in full and exits the investment.

15 years

7. How costs scale to the 30-year window (optional)

Toggle which cost components scale with the timeframe — one-off costs typically should not; ongoing costs typically should. Defaults suit most projects. Override capital or development if they recur (e.g. fencing on a 10-year cycle or annual overhead), or financing if it tracks ongoing costs rather than a fixed-term amortised loan.

Development cost

Capital cost

Maintenance cost

Administration cost

Opportunity cost

Financing cost

8. Sources

Evidence base for the outcome quantification and cost figures entered above.

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

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