Trowbridge, Wiltshire – the latter catalysing the government-backed Vision for Trowbridge initiative; and the establishment of Classical Renaissance, a group of companies backed by a consortium of international investors to develop new, zero-carbon traditional towns and villages in selected mountain areas of Spain. 

A common denominator in all of these projects is furtherance of a more enlightened approach to sustainability in planning, architecture and urban development, based on a fusion of the old and new: classical and traditional design, and advanced technology.

With property activities constrained by the 2008 financial crisis, the focus shifted to climate change. Recognising that the glaring inadequacy of global climate policy would result in substantial GHG overshoot and the need for large-scale emissions drawdown, he turned his attention to the nascent field of negative emissions—specifically DAC (Direct Air Capture), including CDR (atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Removal).

In 2012, he identified Carbon Engineering as the most promising start-up in the sector and raised CAN$ 1m for investment alongside two other investors—Bill Gates and Murray Edwards, Chairman of Canada Natural Resources. He raised a further S2m in 2018. The equity was invested through a new fund management group, Carbon Order. Now the undisputed world leader in a technology widely recognised as critical to climate stabilisation, Carbon Engineering was sold in 2024 to Occidental Petroleum for US$1.65 billion.

In 2023, he co-founded Advanced Bacterial Sciences Limited, the predecessor to Thrive Sciences Limited, a bioaugmentation venture utilising targeted microorganism compositions for applications ranging from wastewater treatment such as blocked  sewers and urinals, to oil spills, eutrophic freshwater courses, and algae-choked marinas.

Twenty years ago there were thought to be perhaps  1-2 m species of microorganism—about the same as insects. There are now known to be over a trillion, with applications in practically every sector of the global economy.

All of these activities have involved origination, funding, organization-building and project management from start-up to full operations, most at the forefront of technological development and industry practice: quintessential venture capital projects in fields as diverse as property, conservation, climate change, agriculture, agroforestry, pollution, pharmacology, medicine, media and the internet – but all underpinned with a social/environmental purpose. In pursuit of these projects, he has raised over $500m in debt and equity funding – all for start-up enterprises.

Convinced that the trajectory of society is, on current projections, terminal, he is now focused on three priorities: climate remediation, biodiversity regeneration; and the wider sustainability agenda, consolidating all of his previous career interests in a new non-profit organization, Natural Order.