Conservation Finance Network

Decades of blasting the tops of mountains for coal have clouded generations of human life and millions of years' worth of other life in Appalachia. A new approach that centers on reclaiming mine sites, supporting health in order to build livelihoods, can reset that.

This January, Environmental Defense Fund and Farmers Business Network launched the pilot Regenerative Agriculture Finance Fund (RAFF). Enrolled farmers who meet soil health and nitrogen efficiency standards will access a 0.5% discount on a one-year credit line. This product, years in the making, aims to update farm financing.

By removing "legacy sediment" from dam diversions, scientists can expand wetlands and their conservation oomph. In Pennsylvania, a commercial real estate firm learned how this wetland protection can create more developable land - and more profit.

District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) created a municipal bond that covers the downside risk of using green infrastructure to control stormwater runoff. By offloading risk to investors, the utility drew new financing -and time to get its practices right. Now other cities are following its lead.

Bordered by beautiful wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana is a hub of transportation and industry. A pilot environmental impact bond could seed a set of wetland-restoration projects for the state. Environmental Defense Fund, Quantified Ventures, and their project partners are proposing to draw on funding from the Deepwater...

Greenprint Partners is field-testing a green infrastructure-financing approach that could help make communities healthier and safer in a small group of Rust Belt cities. In an interview, Nicole Chavas, the company’s CEO and cofounder, and Rose Jordan, its marketing director, said the models have expansion potential. If adopted on a...

In a few Rust Belt cities that are seeking economic and social benefits, Greenprint Partners – formerly known as Fresh Coast Capital – is breaking new ground by financing fresh solutions for green stormwater infrastructure. It is using a combination of municipal, private and government resources. Its goals are to...

The Washington, DC Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE)’s Stormwater Retention Credit Program takes a unique approach to attracting private capital to effectively leverage public funds. DOEE’s financial commitment to managing its stormwater challenges and proactive transparency in working with investors have created an attractive opportunity for private investment.

The National Philanthropic Trust’s 2017 Donor-Advised Fund Report found that the capital housed in donor-advised funds across the United States exceeded $85 billion in 2016. This represents an almost 10-percent increase since 2015 and a 28-percent increase since 2012.

Conservation managers and entrepreneurs who are looking to make their projects stand out as investment opportunities should be sure to supply the information that investors want. Impact investing experts interviewed by

The practice of raising and managing capital to support land, water, and natural resource conservation.

Network expressed a surprising lack of interest in most impact metrics and measurements aside from carbon sequestration...