Restord Secures First-of-a-Kind £1 Million Financing to Scale Biochar Carbon Removal in Cornwall
Restord team standing in front of Ashley, the pyrolysis machine for the pilot project
Cornwall-based carbon removal company Restord has secured a £1 million commercial loan from Oxbury Bank, in the first financing deal of its kind for a UK biochar company. The deal, facilitated through the Green Finance Institute's newly launched Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Catalyst, marks a significant step forward for the UK's nascent carbon removal sector.
Enabled by philanthropic capital from Terraset, a founding partner of the CDR Catalyst, the financing agreement combines a forward purchase of carbon credits alongside a new partnership structure involving Restord, The Green Waste Company, and Woodtek Engineering, a developer of pyrolysis and biochar technology. The deal is designed to help Restord move beyond its successful pilot phase and build toward meaningful climate impact at commercial scale.
Tom Previte, founder and CEO of Restord, said:
“This deal is an exemplary model for how financial innovation can support CDR projects to reach commercialisation. This financing enables Restord to remove circa 2,000 of tonnes of CO2 each year through the production of high-quality biochar, a CDR method that sequesters carbon from organic matter.”
According to the Department for Transport's average UK mileage data and DESNZ 2025 greenhouse gas conversion factors, that is the equivalent of taking more than 1,300 cars off UK roads for a year, or 83,000 mature trees absorbing carbon.
From Pilot to Scale
Restord was founded to address one of the central challenges in the fight against climate change: removing CO2 that has already been emitted. Using a process called pyrolysis, the company converts locally sourced woody biomass, including tree surgery waste collected through Cornwall's municipal green-waste systems, into biochar. This stable, carbon-rich material locks away CO2 for over 100 years, while improving the agricultural soils it is applied to.
Since its founding, Restord has delivered its first verified carbon removal credits, completed farm trials in Cornwall in partnership with regional agricultural partners, and been recognised nationally, including a feature on BBC Panorama and a Gold Award at the 2024 Signal Awards in the Environment and Sustainability category for its podcast, Grounded: A Climate Startup Journey.
The £1 million loan from Oxbury Bank, the UK's only bank dedicated to agriculture, food and farming, represents the company's transition from grant-funded pilot to commercially financed operation.
Closing the Commercialisation Gap
Despite over 100 carbon removal project developers operating in the UK, the country currently supplies less than one percent of global carbon removal credits. High capital costs, technology scale risk, and a lack of early revenue certainty have combined to create a significant commercialisation gap, one that the CDR Catalyst was specifically designed to address.
The UK Government has set a target of 21.8 million tonnes of engineered carbon removals by 2035 as part of its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, and has signalled plans to integrate CDR into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme by 2029, alongside the development of Carbon Contracts for Difference. Without structured early-stage support for projects to bridge the commercialisation gap, delivering on these ambitions will require greater private sector involvement.
Georgia Berry, CDR Director at the Green Finance Institute, said of the CDR Catalyst's approach:
"The UK has outstanding CDR innovation, but scaling projects is very challenging, and too much of it is stuck between the lab and the market. This first-of-a-kind deal with Oxbury provides a strong proof point for our approach to scale the UK's CDR market through convening critical partners, accessing patient capital and structuring deals in a way that de-risks investment."
Adam Fraser, Chief Executive at Terraset, whose philanthropic capital helped de-risk the project and unlock the commercial loan, noted:
"Terraset exists to use philanthropic capital where it can have the greatest catalytic effect, and the UK’s carbon removal sector is at precisely that stage. We are partnering with the GFI to support early commercial projects, like Restord, to increase the impact of our capital through risk sharing needed to unlock private capital from trailblazing institutions like Oxbury."
Milkwire, an experienced supporter of innovative carbon removal projects, will serve as a strategic advisor to the CDR Catalyst. Its Climate Transformation Fund will act as a source of growth-stage projects for the CDR Catalyst, with both Milkywire and the Fund contributing ongoing insight into market dynamics and project performance. Robert Höglund, Head of Climate Strategy and CDR at Milkywire, reflected:
“Milkywire’s Climate Transformation Fund supports pioneering projects at the innovation frontier, but these solutions need a clear path into commercial reality. Partnering with GFI through the CDR Catalyst helps us build that pipeline by supporting early-stage ideas that can mature into investment-ready projects.”
What This Means for Restord
For Restord, this financing opens the door to industrial-scale operations. The company's model is built around co-locating biochar production facilities within existing municipal green-waste infrastructure, a practical approach that reduces feedstock costs and embeds carbon removal within the regional circular economy.
The partnership with The Green Waste Company and Woodtek Engineering brings together the feedstock supply chain, pyrolysis technology, and carbon credit infrastructure needed to deliver verified, durable removals at scale across the UK. Combined with Oxbury's loan financing and Terraset's catalytic capital, Restord now has the foundation to grow from a working pilot into a business capable of delivering meaningful climate impact.
About Restord
Restord is a UK-based carbon removal company building and operating co-located biochar facilities within municipal green-waste systems. By partnering with waste contractors, Restord converts locally sourced woody biomass into permanent carbon removal, renewable energy, and high-quality biochar for agriculture and industry, creating a scalable pathway for regional decarbonisation across the UK. Visit restord.earth to learn more. Tune in to the latest episode of Grounded podcast for full behind the scene story of this financing.
About The Green Finance Institute
Established in 2019, the Green Finance Institute (GFI) is a global independent advisor to governments and investors. It is at the forefront of shaping how finance can be used to facilitate a real economy transition, by designing, testing, and scaling financial solutions that enable capital to flow where it can deliver the greatest impact. The GFI has mobilised £77 billion in committed capital over six years.
About Oxbury bank
Oxbury Bank is the UK's only bank dedicated to agriculture, food and farming. Founded by farmers, bankers, technologists and agricultural businesses, it provides specialist financing solutions to support rural businesses, and through this deal becomes the first commercial lender to extend a loan to a UK biochar carbon removal company.
About Terraset
Terraset uses philanthropic capital where it can have the greatest catalytic effect, partnering with the GFI to support early commercial carbon removal projects and unlock private capital through risk-sharing structures.
