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The United Nations Water conference, March 2023

The author's view of the UN Water Conference. 

Funding Clean Water for All at the United Nations Water Conference

Robin Happel
April 19, 2023
  • Topics:
  • Blended Finance
  • Climate
  • Fresh Water
  • Oceans
  • Philanthropy
In many parts of the world, clean water is still an untapped market – but a flow of innovative finance is beginning to change this. Currently, the United Nations estimates that between $182 billion to over $600 billion annually is needed to address the global water crisis. Worldwide, millions of...
Has extractive farming had its day?

The Rise of Regenerative Agriculture: How Food Companies are Catalyzing Regenerative Farming Practices

Christina Kohler
April 18, 2023
  • Topics:
  • Agriculture
  • Climate
  • Fresh Water
  • Habitat
  • Land Conservation
Food companies have started to incorporate regenerative agriculture into their sustainability strategies and supply chains - it’s an important buzzword today for companies, but how are they defining it? And what are they doing to support farmers in the transition? I spoke with Daily Harvest - the plant-based meal delivery...

Staking the State of Nature, With Data and Urgency

Dimitria Spathakis
March 21, 2023
  • Topics:
  • Climate
  • Environmental Justice
  • Forest
  • Fresh Water
  • Habitat
  • Impact Investing
  • Land Conservation
  • Oceans
  • Philanthropy
  • Public Funding
  • Public Policy
In December 2022 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) advocated urgency for an expedited 2025 timeline to more than double finance flows in nature-based solutions (NbS) to limit climate change to below 1.5°C, halt biodiversity loss, and achieve land degradation neutrality. UNEP published the second edition of its “State of...
The Connecticut Green Bank sees potential for capital flows from greenspace like this New Haven park.

Connecticut's Green Bank Seeks Leader for Financing Natural Capital

Alec Appelbaum
October 10, 2022
  • Topics:
  • Agriculture
  • Cities
  • Climate
  • Environmental Justice
  • Forest
  • Fresh Water
  • Habitat
  • Land Conservation
  • Public Policy
States around the nation are changing laws to clarify and speed up financing for natural climate solutions. Now Green Bank CEO Bryan Garcia and his team are looking for a senior team member to crystallize and underwrite the strategy. Garcia says it’d be the first time the green bank has...
Photo of an Appalachian stream by Payton Chung, via Flickr Creative Commons

Can a new Congressional formula offer a way to prosperity without suffering in Appalachia? 

Paying to Put a Mountain Back

Robin Happel
July 19, 2022
  • Topics:
  • Climate
  • Environmental Justice
  • Forest
  • Fresh Water
  • Public Policy
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.

The Regenerative Agriculture Finance Fund's Climate-Smart Rebate

Grace Cajski
April 27, 2022
  • Topics:
  • Agriculture
  • Climate
  • Fresh Water
  • Impact Investing
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.
BIg Spring Run development site, with wetlands

(Photo by Sam Feibel/Franklin & Marshall College.) This restored wetland brings life back to a Pennsylvania site that once posed a threat to the Chesapeake Bay. 

Removing Sediment to Restore Wetlands Clears Revenue Paths

Sam Feibel
January 24, 2022
  • Topics:
  • Fresh Water
  • Habitat
  • Land Conservation
  • Public Policy
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.
US capitol

A Pioneering Environmental Impact Bond for DC Water (Updated)

Abby Martin, Alec Appelbaum
September 27, 2021
  • Topics:
  • Blended Finance
  • Cities
  • Climate
  • Fresh Water
  • Impact Investing
  • Public Funding
  • Public Policy
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.
A lake in Maine maintains clarity (courtesy Maine.gov)

Maine's freshwater supply benefits from fresh ideas and metrics that flow from partnerships.

Case Studies in Clean Water Investments: A Blueprint for Partnership Evolution

Andy Xie
June 15, 2021
  • Topics:
  • Fresh Water
  • Impact Investing
  • Public Funding
To the question “should partnerships advance water quality?”, many practitioners answer: “Yes, but how exactly?” A survey at the outset of the 2021 New England Roundtable showed 36% of participants were “not sure how to get started” with pursuing water utility partnerships, 39% were “already doing it,” and...
Cash flows and rivers flow

The Washington Farmland Trust, which crafted the Conservation Note, provided this image. 

Good Crops, Good Credit: How a Northwest Land Trust Sustains Farmland With Capital

Katie Michels
November 20, 2020
  • Topics:
  • Agriculture
  • Fresh Water
  • Habitat
  • Impact Investing
  • Land Conservation
  • Philanthropy
How does a farmer with no desire to keep growing crops become a catalyst for financial value and land preservation? The Washington Farmland Trust worked with a farmer at the end of his career to craft a financial package that would keep his land from developers, sustain ecosystem services, and...

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