Oct 14, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
Can AI transform how we understand, value and restore nature? Dr Rich Stockdale is joined by Chris Winter, newly appointed Managing Director of Oxygen Intelligence, to explore the intersection of…
Rich StockdaleHost
Um, from the very beginning, data's been really important to you and me personally, and from the, the birth of Claudia, our sort of first AI platform in terms of acquisition.
business?I, I think that was the fir- the way we first connected was through the project I was doing previously, Natural Capital Laboratory, which was, like, it basically combined the two things I love most, nature, nature restoration, and, like, how that could be financed and delivered, and then also technology and data and how you could use those systems and platforms that are coming out in the tech world to ba- make nature restoration more possible, more scalable, um, more deliverable.
And so we were doing this, like, small-scale project across 100 acres looking at, uh...
it was a rewilding project in Scotland, the Highlands, an incredible landscape, and we filled it with drones and tech and sensors.
And, like, the whole ethos of that was like, how do we use this data to make these schemes deliverable in practice and scalable? Like, how do we take this from 100 acres to 100,000 acres? And then you came along and were like, "Let's do it over 100,000 acres." [laughs] So a very f- from the first day, like a core part of what I was doing here was bringing that, right, we need to create a scalable financial model for doing nature restoration, but also a key part of that's got to be using data and tech to d- to make it possible.
Because you think about how environmental schemes have been delivered for 20, the last 20, 30 years, there's a lot of paperwork, there's a lot of clipboards, there's a lot of stuff that is extremely painstaking and just it's not scalable at 100,000 acres.
It might be possible on small, you know, pilot scale projects, but it doesn't work at a n- landscape level.
And so if we're gonna do what we say we're gonna do, which is restore 250,000 acres of land, there has to be a tech element to it.
And, um, someone else who's played a massive role in this, can you talk a little bit about the impact Lara's had on the business?
Since, like, the first day she's been collecting all the data that OC's ever had into this increasingly growing and sophisticated platform, and you've s- seen hi- it and her develop from, I mean, collecting data, creating maps and spatially representing what we've got to what... and that was essentially what Lara's role is.
Now she is at the forefront of developing and managing these incredible pieces of AI-led data software platforms, which are pulling together this data that's built up over five years to provide these tools, um, which cut across each aspect of the business.
And it's just incredible to see the work she's done and built over this few years, um, and what we can do now compared to what we started from.
The ability for us to put drones in the air and turn that into meaningful data from intelligent acquisitions to intelligent estates, all the way through to the MRV and intelligent carbon side of what we're doing.
And prior to this year we were really, we were almost in stealth mode about the tech side, right? We talked about the impact, the venture, the environment side of it, very vocal about that, but we were obviously very protective and discreet about the tech side of it.
But this year you've had the opportunity, you and Lara, to showcase it to some of the leading companies in the world.
Uh [laughs] It, it, it, it is surprising when you see, you know... 'Cause you kind of just, when you're in the middle of a bubble, you're kinda working on stuff and you think it's really exciting, but when you then speak to people externally and they look at it and say, "Wow, this is quite..." You know, everybody is surprised and shocked at how much we've built and what we've done in the last few years.
Um, from the very beginning, data's been really important to you and me personally, and from the, the birth of Claudia, our sort of first AI platform in terms of acquisition.
business?I, I think that was the fir- the way we first connected was through the project I was doing previously, Natural Capital Laboratory, which was, like, it basically combined the two things I love most, nature, nature restoration, and, like, how that could be financed and delivered, and then also technology and data and how you could use those systems and platforms that are coming out in the tech world to ba- make nature restoration more possible, more scalable, um, more deliverable.
And so we were doing this, like, small-scale project across 100 acres looking at, uh...
it was a rewilding project in Scotland, the Highlands, an incredible landscape, and we filled it with drones and tech and sensors.
And, like, the whole ethos of that was like, how do we use this data to make these schemes deliverable in practice and scalable? Like, how do we take this from 100 acres to 100,000 acres? And then you came along and were like, "Let's do it over 100,000 acres." [laughs] So a very f- from the first day, like a core part of what I was doing here was bringing that, right, we need to create a scalable financial model for doing nature restoration, but also a key part of that's got to be using data and tech to d- to make it possible.
Because you think about how environmental schemes have been delivered for 20, the last 20, 30 years, there's a lot of paperwork, there's a lot of clipboards, there's a lot of stuff that is extremely painstaking and just it's not scalable at 100,000 acres.
It might be possible on small, you know, pilot scale projects, but it doesn't work at a n- landscape level.
And so if we're gonna do what we say we're gonna do, which is restore 250,000 acres of land, there has to be a tech element to it.
And, um, someone else who's played a massive role in this, can you talk a little bit about the impact Lara's had on the business?
Since, like, the first day she's been collecting all the data that OC's ever had into this increasingly growing and sophisticated platform, and you've s- seen hi- it and her develop from, I mean, collecting data, creating maps and spatially representing what we've got to what... and that was essentially what Lara's role is.
Now she is at the forefront of developing and managing these incredible pieces of AI-led data software platforms, which are pulling together this data that's built up over five years to provide these tools, um, which cut across each aspect of the business.
And it's just incredible to see the work she's done and built over this few years, um, and what we can do now compared to what we started from.
The ability for us to put drones in the air and turn that into meaningful data from intelligent acquisitions to intelligent estates, all the way through to the MRV and intelligent carbon side of what we're doing.
And prior to this year we were really, we were almost in stealth mode about the tech side, right? We talked about the impact, the venture, the environment side of it, very vocal about that, but we were obviously very protective and discreet about the tech side of it.
But this year you've had the opportunity, you and Lara, to showcase it to some of the leading companies in the world.
Uh [laughs] It, it, it, it is surprising when you see, you know... 'Cause you kind of just, when you're in the middle of a bubble, you're kinda working on stuff and you think it's really exciting, but when you then speak to people externally and they look at it and say, "Wow, this is quite..." You know, everybody is surprised and shocked at how much we've built and what we've done in the last few years.
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