UK insurers paid out a record £585 million in home weather-damage claims in 2024, 28% more than the previous year and nearly double the annual average of five years ago. Against this backdrop, seven businesses from QBE Europe’s insurance claims supply chain are partnering with carbon credit specialist Nature Broking. They will take meaningful action on nature and climate by joining forces through an innovative collective called the QBE Buyers Club.
The collective promises a 50-year commitment to fund rewilding and carbon credit generation at Boothby Wildland, Lincolnshire. It is believed to be the UK's first formal supply-chain-led nature restoration consortium. The participating companies are: insurer QBE; law firms Clyde & Co, DWF, and Keoghs (Davies Group); risk and claims administration partner Sedgwick; claims company Prism Claims Group; accident repair group FMG; and a national salvage dealer.
The QBE Buyers Club reflects a shift in how leading professional services firms approach climate action, from individual commitments to collective investment across the relationships that connect them day to day. Nature Broking developed the consortium model to make that possible: nature investment made in collaboration with QBE's claims supply chain, putting employees, suppliers and customers at the heart of a shared sustainability strategy.
Developed with leading rewilding organisation Nattergal and brokered by Nature Broking, the consortium will fund the removal of carbon across 18 dedicated acres over the project's lifetime. Across the whole 500+ acre site, the project is estimated to generate 25,000 verified credits over 100 years under the UK Carbon Code (UKCCC). The reintroduction of two beavers to the West Glen river is one of the most tangible interventions; their dam-building activity is expected to restore wetland habitat, improve water quality and accelerate biodiversity recovery across the site.
Several of the consortium's members compete for the same clients. That makes their shared 50-year commitment in the same piece of land the more striking. The model asks what becomes possible when businesses invest together, across the relationships that already connect them.
The project builds on landmark research conducted at the Knepp Estate in Sussex — the UK's longest-running rewilding project — which found that rewilded soil stores carbon at rates comparable to established broadleaf woodland, with most sequestration occurring below ground in the soil. Boothby Wildland is the first project to commercialise that research at scale.
Paddy Linehan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Clyde & Co, said: "Sustainability in professional services is often framed as an individual commitment, what each firm does within its own walls. The QBE Buyers Club is a different proposition entirely: it asks what becomes possible when businesses invest together, across the relationships that already connect them. For Clyde & Co, that question is exactly the right one to be asking."
Abi Duff-Walker, Head of Sustainability, DWF, said: "Collaborating through high-impact partnerships is a key focus of our ESG and sustainability strategy at DWF. The QBE Buyers Club presents an opportunity to extend that commitment and amplify our impact, leveraging our client and peer relationships to accelerate action on climate change and nature loss."
Connie Cobb, Market Director — Specialty Lines, Keoghs, said: "Reaching net zero is an industry challenge, not an individual one. By working alongside our peers and aligning around shared goals, we can multiply our impact and accelerate meaningful progress. Through collective action, we are supporting the industry-wide transition to a lower-carbon future."
Luke Baldwin, CEO, Nature Broking, said: "The voluntary carbon market works best when buyers are connected to the land they're funding. They can visit it, see it change, and show their stakeholders something real. The QBE Buyers Club is exactly that model: a supply chain investing together in a project that is verifiably, tangibly theirs."
