Meet our Ecology Director – Emma
Full name and job title
Emma Toovey, Ecology Director
How long have you worked at Environment Bank
1 month
What do you enjoy most about your job
For me it’s the bigger picture – I like to go to work every day thinking that I am playing a small part in restoring global biodiversity and doing something positive and meaningful for the environment for generations to come.
What attracted you to work at the Environment Bank
EB is doing something pioneering. I like to be where the action is and I felt that EB offered me the opportunity to use the skills I have from 18 years of traditional ecological consultancy to deliver something special on a scale that is impactful. It’s inspiring stuff and I wanted to be part of it.
How is your work – and the work of Environment Bank – making a difference?
What we are creating is unique. We are bringing together our extensive knowledge and experience from working with landowners, liaising with local planning authorities and supporting the needs of developers in order to define an approach that we know is going to work, is impactful at scale and minimises and manages risk associated with achieving what we are setting out to do. Our simple and smart solution is making a difference to successfully delivering biodiversity restoration on a landscape scale across England (and beyond!).
The Environment Bank’s purpose is to secure the long term future of the planet. How are you supporting that aim through your job?
As Ecology Director I am responsible for ensuring that every decision we make as a business is underpinned by good ecological principles and technical integrity. EB is looking to restore nature at scale across England – with the impacts of climate change being uncertain and nature being intrinsically complex it is important that we give our habitat banks the greatest chance of success by making sure we understand the ecology we are working with and what we can realistically achieve. That way our landscape scale habitats will maximise environmental benefits (specifically ecosystem services) and support the wider aim of restoring biodiversity nationwide in a way that is robust and able to adapt to our changing climate.
Who or what inspires you?
I am inspired daily by the environmental sector and the passion and innovation of so many individuals working within it who are all striving towards the same overarching goal of securing the long term future of the planet. I love working with such a diverse mix of people, skills and experience. The environment is a complex place and there is nothing more inspiring than collaborating with a team of people who bring something different to the table and together finding a solution to an environmental challenge.