Oxygen Conservation stands as a beacon of innovation and inspiration in the battle against climate change and biodiversity collapse. Founded with the mission to Scale Conservation, we are not just focused on what we do, but also on how we do it, with a vision to inspire others to join this crucial fight!
Aspirational Ambitions
We talk about being the world’s first conservation-focused unicorn company because ambitions should be aspirational and inspirational – if we don’t create an incredible market leader, we cannot hope to be a catalyst for an entirely new alternative asset class.
Emphasising Environment, Impact, and Adventure
At Oxygen Conservation, work is an adventure with a purpose. We prioritise environment, impact, and adventure in everything we do. We have been coasteering in Wales, e-biking across the Highlands, free diving in Cornwall, and Wild Swimming on Dartmoor on top of the so many daily micro-adventures. We believe work should make your life better, not be something in conflict with your health, happiness, and fulfilment.
Celebrating Big Data & Environmentalists
We’ve challenged and redefined the way land is valued, bought, and sold bringing big data and analytics into the environment sector like never before. At Oxygen Conservation you can be a data geek and an environmentalist; you can love spreadsheets and also love adventure.
Scaling Conservation
In just two years, Oxygen Conservation has made remarkable strides, acquiring around 30,000 acres across the UK, valued at over £100 million, demonstrating our commitment to conservation at an unprecedented scale.
Giving People Hope
Our climate is collapsing, we’re living through the next mass extinction and the people that are supposed to be leading the way are making it worse by licensing new gas and oil exploration and making it harder for people to advocate or act for the environment. In the face of fear, people want hope and we’re trying hard to give it to them by Scaling Conservation and creating an entirely new alternative asset class.
Elevating the Environmental Sector
Oxygen Conservation is transforming recruitment in the sector, raising the profile of young environmentalists, and fostering a high-performance culture. For too long the environment sector has been apologetic, nervous, quiet, undervalued, and underappreciated. As a result, the leadership of NGOs and the charitable sector have sought to maintain the status quo promoting experience over talent and safety over creativity and charisma. At Oxygen Conservation, it’s different. We want to inspire the most talented people into the environment sector because the people who are mad enough to think they can change the world are the ones who probably will, and we’ve got lots of them!
High-Performance Culture
Traditionally, performance didn’t matter in the environment sector. Excuses were made, difficult conversations avoided, and outcomes never measured. Oxygen Conservation has changed the game. We believe that how you do anything is how you do everything, and feedback is given often and quickly. If you don’t want to achieve exceptional standards and levels of performance (and yes of course that means working incredibly hard) then this isn’t the place for you. But if you want to achieve incredible things, we’d always love to hear from you.
Collaboration and Partnership
We want to collaborate and partner with brilliant organisations and are delighted to be working with the following companies and many more; Oxygen House, Triodos, Burges Salmon, Galbraith, Low Carbon, Camp Wild, Tree Story, CreditNature, Bidwells, wearebeard, Earth Minutes and so many more…
Sharing & Showcasing
We’re committed to showcasing the incredible people and businesses across the developing natural capital economy and love sharing their stories on our Shoot Room Sessions Podcasts. We will always use our platform and voice to advocate for people, wildlife, and our incredible partners as well as the organisations we respect and admire.
Radical Transparency
We maintain a culture of complete transparency and continuous improvement, openly sharing our mistakes, failings, actions, achievements, and successes. Inside the business, all information is available to everyone as this is really the only way to help the most talented people develop at speed and make the best possible decisions.
Redefining Brand Identity
Oxygen Conservation has intentionally designed a minimalist, stylish, and elegant brand identity, aiming to disrupt the environment sector and elevate standards through high-quality visual imagery. One of our first hires was a photographer and videographer and every single image we publish or share has been taken of our land by our team – authenticity is everything.
Our website was intentionally created without reference to the environment sector, drawing inspiration from high-end watches and sustainable clothes brands like Christopher Wards, Patagonia, and Finisterre. We’re intentionally disrupting the environment sector, raising its profile and seeking to make it aspirational and inspirational.
Recruiting for Potential
We recruit for potential, not experience. In the process, we have attracted some of the most incredibly talented young people working in the environment sector. These people are so talented and so young, that they would scare the old guard in the public and charitable sector. But at Oxygen Conservation, they now have a place where they can reach their incredible potential and we’re delighted they’ve chosen to be part of our mission to Scale Conversation.
Authenticity and Inclusivity
We are not going to apologise for being ourselves, for making some people uncomfortable with the pace at which we work, for the fact that we’re obsessive about what we do, or for how excited we are about how we do it. Some of us have tattoos, some don’t. Some have visible piercings, some don’t. Some of us prefer to wear jeans and t-shirts, some like to dress smart. For many of us, most of our clothes are second-hand and in the case of Chris, wonderfully flamboyant (and quite often his wife’s). But above everything, we’re one hundred percent, authentically us. We are committed to making diversity of thought and experience not just an advantage but a necessity. We achieve this by only recruiting people better than us in a meaningful way and that inherently means you will be different; you will be amazingly you.
We’re a Team
We’re incredibly close as a team, we have a no dickheads policy and include as many of the team as possible in the recruitment process. We all hug when we meet (Dan doesn’t like this), we all share food on road trips (except Fi, she doesn’t share food) and we’re incredibly supportive, encouraging, and playful. We’re a real team and the most incredible one I’ve had the opportunity to be part of or lead.
We’ve only just started!
Oxygen Conservation is more than an environmental business; we’re trying to inspire change. Through our ridiculously ambitious goals, innovative approaches, high-performance and inclusive culture (contradictory I know), and relentless dedication we hope to inspire as many people as possible to do everything they can to help in the fight against climate change and biodiversity collapse.
Rich Stockdale
Founder & Managing Director