EnviroStrat owns 50% of New Zealand’s largest specialist aquaculture consultancy; Aquaculture Direct Ltd. Aquaculture is a huge growth opportunity for New Zealand and EnviroStrat felt that supplementing its core scientific, economic and financial capabilities with deep technical aquaculture skills would provide a unique opportunity in the New Zealand and international aquaculture sector. Our work in aquaculture since acquiring Aquaculture Direct has blended their world-class technical and operational expertise with EnviroStrat's in-house understanding of business growth, the blue economy and project development.
EnviroStrat proudly owns and operates New Zealand’s first regenerative ocean farming initiative, dedicated to advancing sustainable seaweed cultivation. Our regenerative farming approach requires zero external inputs—no added nutrients or feeds—yet yields significant economic, social, and environmental benefits. Through Greenwave Aotearoa’s innovative commercial model, we are restoring ocean ecosystems, capturing blue carbon, and removing excess nutrients from marine environments. The cultivated seaweed offers versatile applications, including food, biostimulants, animal supplements, and pharmaceuticals. In partnership with GreenWave US, we are executing a $5 million, three-year pilot project designed to establish a high-value, sustainable seaweed sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. Find out more…
Written by EnviroStrat's Natasha Jacobs. Q – What is COP? COP stands for Conference of the Parties. It’s a global summit where nature takes centre stage. COP16, the 16th iteration, has been taking place over the last two weeks, in Cali, Colombia. Not to be confused with the Climate Change COP taking place in Azerbaijan next month, COP16 is the Biodiversity COP, and aims to drive international co-operation to tackle the global biodiversity crisis. Q – What are we learning this year? Highly anticipated this year, is country progress on COP15’s Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, a landmark global agreement, established in 2022, aimed at halting…
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) members adopted a resolution at the 2016 World Conservation Congress and members’ assembly which, for the first time, defined the use of nature for simultaneous benefits to biodiversity and human well-being. According to the resolution, nature-based solutions are defined as “actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits”. The crucial role of nature-based solutions in addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss was highlighted in a COP27 session organised by the IUCN. At…
The news that we’re partnering with Urchinomics to form Urchinomics Aotearoa is a significant milestone for impact investment project development leader EnviroStrat, and exemplifies what’s possible when you bring together global and local expertise and capital. We’ve successfully collaborated with Urchinomics, the leading global urchin (kina) ranching and kelp restoration company over the past 18 months Kinanomics pilot. Following the success of the pilot, Urchinomics Aotearoa will scale its operations to tackle the pressing ecological and climate challenges posed by overpopulated kina barrens that have decimated kelp forest ecosystems throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand operations are expected to kickstart…
EnviroStrat's Senior Project Manager, Rebecca Barclay was interviewed for episode 6 of Rural Delivery about how the GreenWave Aotearoa project is exploring the viability of a domestic seaweed farming industry. Rural Delivery Episode 6 | April 2023
EnviroStrat's Senior Environmental Scientist, Johnny Wright was interviewed by Radio NZ about the launch of our Kinanomics project. "Kinanomics" leading the way for a new delicacy to export | July 2023 EnviroStrat’s Kinanomics project is an innovative approach that leverages the economic, environmental, and cultural value of kina (sea urchins) to address ecosystem imbalances and support sustainable marine resource management. By focusing on the restoration of kelp forests through the targeted removal of overabundant kina, the project seeks to revitalise degraded marine ecosystems while creating commercial opportunities for high-value kina products. Kinanomics integrates traditional knowledge, community engagement, and cutting-edge science…
EnviroStrat's Senior Project Manager, Rebecca Barclay, was interviewed about our GreenWave Aotearoa project for Fish of the Day with Clarke Gayford. Fish of the Day | June 2022
EnviroStrat's Sustainability Director, Cerasela Stancu was interviewed for a podcast on Monocle 24: The Bulletin with UBS. Cerasela, along with UBS Optimus Foundation’s CEO Maya Ziswiler and Patti Chu of Mana Impact shared the key ambitions of the Catalysing Nature-based Solutions: Perspectives and Practices for Developing High Quality Projects report released in November 2022. “If there is one overarching and reassuring finding it is this aspect of multiple benefits that nature-based solutions provide and the fact that they really deliver value for money.” Nature-based Solutions, The Bulletin with UBS 429 - Radio | Monocle | December 2022
Water accounting has a critical role in proactively managing freshwater and making informed decisions. That’s the message EnviroStrat’s Cerasela Stancu shared with attendees at the 2023 New Zealand National Freshwater Conference. Drawing on EnviroStrat’s experience and insights, Cerasela spoke about our application of the UN SEEA water approach in the Hawke’s Bay region, producing the first systematic set of water accounts in New Zealand to inform Hawke's Bay Regional Council's Regional Security Water Programme. Cerasela Stancu at the National Freshwater Conference - YouTube | March 2023
How can we reduce waste and pollution, and regenerate natural environments, while still keeping our economy running? Nigel Bradly, EnviroStrat CEO, spoke to the Science Media Centre of New Zealand about the idea of a circular bioeconomy. “Building Aotearoa New Zealand’s circular marine bioeconomy is an exciting opportunity to leverage the country’s abundant marine resources for sustainable economic growth.” Moving to a circular bioeconomy - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre | February 2023
In the last few decades, Aotearoa New Zealand’s rocky reef coastal ecosystems have undergone significant changes. We’re now facing a massive ecological challenge, but it’s one that most people don’t know about because it’s happening under the water. Vast stretches of our seafloor that were once abundant with dense kelp forests have been overtaken by exploding populations of kina (sea urchins) which have grazed the kelp down to bare rock. The combination of the removal of kina’s natural predators (like snapper and crayfish) through commercial and recreational fishing, impacts from land use and warming oceans have led to a proliferation…
Catalysing nature-based solutions: Perspectives and practices for developing high-quality projects gives a sense of the vast potential we have to harness nature to address global environmental and biodiversity challenges. The report was co-authored by EnviroStrat and Singapore-based impact investment and advisory firm, Mana Impact, with support from UBS Optimus Foundation. Download the NBS Report.
EnviroStrat CEO, Dr Nigel Bradly was interviewed for this newsroom article examining why New Zealand isn’t leading the world when it comes to funding innovation around agricultural emissions reduction technologies. "The New Zealand investment community is highly conservative by comparison with investors overseas," Bradly says. "There's no shortage of investment capital looking for climate innovation, but New Zealand investors don't walk the talk in the same way they do elsewhere. This is especially the case for non tech climate investment - nature-based solutions for example are woefully underinvested. There is not the same willingness to take risks. Here we are…
Dr Nigel Bradly, EnviroStrat CEO, was interviewed for Radio NZ about New Zealand’s new Seaweed Sector Framework. “The growth potential is huge … Enabling the growth is part of it. Part of it is developing the know-how and skills in farming as well as the processing to create a scalable, high value, end-to-end supply chain. The more we’re able to scale up the production of sustainably grown seaweed, the more confidence we will have to invest heavily into high value opportunities. Listen to the radio interview here. Growth framework developed for New Zealand's seaweed industry | October 2022
Stuff reported on New Zealand’s first planting of hatchery grown seaweed in Coromandel waters, noting that it could be the beginning of a new sector for the aquaculture industry. Alongside Dr Nigel Bradly, EnviroStrat CEO, GreenWaveNZ partners Dr Rebecca Lawton from the University of Waikato and Lucas Evans, CEO of Premium Seas were interviewed about the pilot. First seaweed planting in Coromandel waters historic moment for aquaculture | October 2022
The Bay of Plenty Times reported on the GreenWaveNZ pilot seaweed outplanting. Dr Nigel Bradly, EnviroStrat CEO, was interviewed at the event. “What’s really historic about today is this is the first time in New Zealand that we’ve had Ecklonia grown in a hatchery and put onto a farm. What we’re seeing now, we hope, is the start of something exciting, where we’re able to help ocean farmers create a supply chain with seaweed as a part, or all, of what they do.” First seaweed seedlings in the Hauraki Gulf for new industry | October 2022
EnviroStrat CEO, Dr Nigel Bradly joined Sally Paterson from Live Ocean Foundation for a webinar hosted by Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge to share their perspectives from the UN Oceans Conference 2022. They highlighted the science-based and innovative solutions to improve the ocean’s health as well as discussing what New Zealand is doing well, where we need to do better and where the opportunities lie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYKSixvLlmc&t=2s Recorded: Tuesday 30 August 2022.
About the client Established in 2014, the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge is a 10-year, two phase government-funded research programme set up to address how we can best develop our marine economy, while protecting the taonga of our marine environment. Executive Summary Sustainable Seas National Challenge has a vision for healthy marine ecosystems that provide value for every New Zealander. EnviroStrat has been a significant contributor to the Sustainable Seas blue economy workstream. In 2018 EnviroStrat was tasked with leading a project reviewing how the blue economy in New Zealand is growing and changing, and the potential of research and…
GreenWave Aotearoa is an innovative three-year regenerative ocean farming pilot that began in mid-2021. Led by EnviroStrat, in partnership with Ng?i Tai ki Tamaki,Premium Seas Ltd, the Universities of Waikato and Auckland and AgriSea, the $5 million pilot is focused on creating an economically viable seed-to-harvest model for seaweed farming inNew Zealand. Taking place on existing consented aquaculturefarm sites in the Hauraki Gulf, supported by hatcheries in the Coromandel and Tauranga, the pilot is developing on-water infrastructure and growing techniques, post-harvesting logistics and product development. In doing so, GreenWave Aotearoa seeks to optimise productivity (and therefore commercial viability) of seaweed…
Mawae Morton, EnviroStrat Chairman and Nigel Bradly, CEO, were interviewed for Stuff’s Seasick series. They feature in Episode 7 talking about the future of the Hauraki Gulf. Seasick: Saving the Hauraki Gulf | April 2022
In this edited conversation with Peter Green from BlueTechBase News, Nigel Bradly spoke about his journey with EnviroStrat, advice he would give to others in this space and the importance of bridging the gap between investors and sustainable project developers. “For me, a particularly fascinating area lies at the intersection between economics, finance and science. As a result, EnviroStrat operates in that arena and our real value comes from our belief that being transdisciplinary is a superpower.” Founders Fireside Chat with BlueTechBase News | November 2021
Nigel Bradly, EnviroStrat CEO, was interviewed by NZBusiness about the challenges and opportunities for New Zealand’s aquaculture industry post Covid-19, and the initiatives that could unlock its true export potential. “As a country we haven’t invested enough to date in critical assets like hatcheries to provide the certainty of supply that you see in a lot of other countries. He also believes that the sector hasn’t necessarily kept up to speed on R&D and technology as much as other sectors. Climate change is also a significant challenge for the sector - with warming seas, acidification and biosecurity risks that come…
In this series written for Pure Advantage, Fraser Stobie unlocks some new thinking about the world’s aquatic economy. In Blue is the new green, Fraser touches on what it means for the ocean economy to be blue; exploring definitions of the Blue Economy and highlighting in particular, the need for sustainable growth in our oceans to meet a variety of economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes. In The value proposition of the blue economy, Fraser explores how local communities can benefit from the Blue Economy and illustrates how alternate measures of success can change the way we generate greater value…
Nigel Bradly was interviewed for Radio New Zealand's article about how the seaweed market is a golden opportunity for New Zealand. “The government is working really hard so that it can enable, not prevent, a sector like this from growing. Part of the reason Aotearoa has been so slow to the industry is because it’s very good at farming other aquaculture such as mussels, oysters and salmon, and there wasn’t an appetite or demand for trying out a new species. Big global producers have very mature supply chains that New Zealand companies would have to compete with. But the tide…
About the client With 189 member countries, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership that is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. Its five institutions are working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty, build shared prosperity in developing countries and promote sustainable development. Executive Summary The World Bank and Government of India had been collaborating to develop a long-term programme to direct funding and resources to coastal and marine management. The Enhancing Coastal and Ocean Resource Efficiency (ENCORE) programme will help India enhance its coastal resources, protect coastal populations from pollution,…
About the client Established in 2014, the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge is a 10-year, two phase government-funded research programme set up to address how we can best develop our marine economy, while protecting the taonga of our marine environment. Executive Summary EnviroStrat has been a significant contributor to the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge blue economy workstream. In 2018/2019 we led a research project to identify marine activities that have the potential to create economic value whilst contributing positively to social, cultural and ecological wellbeing in New Zealand. This included a stocktake of national and international blue economy developments,…
Watch Dr Nigel Bradly’s presentation to the Changing Tides Tai T?rua: Ocean resilience in Aotearoa conference | June 2021. There are some great initiatives happening in New Zealand at the moment, but what’s important is that they are scalable and repeatable to be able to generate the scale of restoration required. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcC5vZEFU1Y
EnviroStrat (working with Maven Consulting) led a project to identify and value the social impact of coastal hazards (flooding and erosion) on the Hawkes Bay communities of Ahuriri, Westshore, Bay View and Whirinaki..
EnviroStrat led an 18-month programme on behalf of Ng? Iwi i te Rohe o Te Waiariki in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries, and with the support of Te Ohu Kaimoana, to explore opportunities to enable the development of M?ori aquaculture in Te Moana-a-Toi / the Bay of Plenty.
