BWIP News and Announcements

• Welcome to Charlotte Dawber-Ashley, BWIP’s new part-time Community Manager. Charlotte, originally from New Zealand, has worked in London over the past 7 years, and has experience in community-building having served as FS Club Manager for Michael Mainelli’s Z/YEN from 2021-2024.

• BWIP Online - since Covid, we have only had a few online events, but a number of us have moved away and are missing the connection and energy of the community. We will shortly be setting up monthly online BWIP. These will primarily be for people outside of London, but all are welcome to join. Keep an eye out here and on WhatsApp for more. In the interim let us know if you are interested in being added to that invitation.

• BWIP.space the updated members-only space is live. Sign in with your email address that you completed the questionnaire with. The site is behind a password wall and is only for BWIP members. IT allows you to learn more about what is going on and how to help each other. Content includes events, shared resources, and meeting pages, with a high level map of who came and what was discussed. It will continue to grow as the group does. Please have a look and send feedback, resources, and ideas to BWIPInfo@Lovely.ventures

Topics Discussed

Nature, Resilience, and Framing the Climate Conversation / Climate Narrative. A question about the barriers to private investment in nature restoration opened up a rich discussion. It covered Nature-based Solutions and why insurers are increasingly looking to them for resilience. Practical work such as Lawyers for Nature and how framing climate around the local environment can win wider support across parties was discussed, with supply chains, resilience, and costs suggested as the most useful framing for citizen buy-in.

Carbon Markets. Members discussed how concentrated the carbon credit market is, where the next tier of corporate buyers might come from, and new research on whether carbon credits can be treated as assets rather than an expense.

Funding Sources. A member reported that Innovate UK has changed it's approach, and now supports businesses in its priority sectors, rather than funding individual projects. Successful businesses can receive £80,000. However it is particularly important to pay attention to the fine print! Getting funding is as much about the quality of your submission as it is about the quality of what you do. Jennifer Georgeson has experience in application submission if you want to reach out.

November DWIP event combining with a wine tasting. We discussed BWIP being a test case for one of Jonathan's wine tasting events. Charlotte Dawber-Ashley will liaise with Jonathan Holmes and Helena Farstad

Follow Up Actions

• Charlotte and Kegan will liaise with Jonathan Holmes and Helena Farstad set up the November DWIP and wine tasting event.
• Charlotte and Kegan will liaise with Bonnie Groves on setting up a Personal and Professional Transition single topic meeting to continue the discussions and resource building.
• Kegan and Charlotte will investigate setting up a nature based solutions / nature restoration single topic meeting.
• Kegan connect with people on the City Corporate Bookers List to share with Jen and Jonathan.

Asks and Offers

Corporate Gifts for Christmas

Jennifer Georgeson runs a sustainable gifting business working with vulnerable women-led artisans. If your organisation is planning Secret Santa or client gifts, this is your one-stop shop: sojustshop.com

Corporate Event Contacts

Jonathan Holmes is looking for contacts in professional service firms’ events teams / operations teams to pitch his wine tasting & sustainability event, Viniverda (*Website coming).

Nature restoration

Ally Spencer is interested in nature restoration and adaptation, especially the barriers to private and blended finance in the south-west of the UK. Pointers and introductions welcome. Also, a potential topic for a single-issue deep dive call.

Informal Work Opportunities

Charlotte Dawber-Ashley is looking for part time work opportunities. Charlotte is available for project/event management, marketing, research, report writing, social media, and administration.

Recommendations/Resources

Akimbo: A Podcast from Seth Godin on ‘The end of the spectrum’ and what changes when publishing is effectively free, https://shows.acast.com/akimbo/episodes/greater-public-spectrum

The Wild Summit, attendance in 2027 is worthwhile as there are very practical sessions on nature. Will add to the BWIP event page: https://www.wcl.org.uk/wildsummituk.asp

Barnet Council's Natural Capital Accounts, London’s first borough-wide Corporate Natural Capital Account, https://ecosystemsknowledge.net/resources/projects/london-borough-of-barnet-corporate-natural-capital-account/

An ISSB standard on nature and biodiversity, an exposure draft is due to be published at COP17 in October 2026 (watch this space).

Mercor, Remote Work Opportunities, including AI frontier model testing work. Advice is to take time doing initial interviews; their website includes lots of helpful information on how to prepare: http://t.mercor.com/14cwo

What's On The Horizon

In the next week

• DWIP, Wednesday, 30 September, Mildred’s King’s Cross, 18:30 for 19:00;

In the next month

• Next BWIP, Wednesday 21 October, Le Pain Quotidien, St Pancras
• A monthly online BWIP for members who can't be there in person - date tba
• A single-topic session on transition, focusing on the personal transitions many of us are going through: the inner work, the why, and the next steps. If you'd like to be involved, tell Kegan (date TBA).

In the next quarter

• A sustainability wine event (Jonathan’s Viniverda Wine Tasting concept) using BWIP as the test audience, perhaps for our November meeting or Christmas Dinner on Wednesday, 9 December.

In the next year

• A possible small trial BWIP Retreat in Scotland (date TBA).

For any corrections or additions, please contact bwipinfo@lovely.ventures