Transforming the way we protect nature.
NatureVest is TNC's conservation investing unit.
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NatureVest is the in-house impact investing team at The Nature Conservancy, working with our colleagues and conservation collaborators around the world to source and structure investment products that support TNC’s mission at scale. Our team has helped TNC and its partners originate, structure, fund and close investment vehicles representing more than $2.3 billion of committed capital.
Featured Projects
Report
Belize Debt Conversion Case Study
Learn about The Nature Conservancy’s debt conversion for marine conservation in Belize.
Report
2021 NatureVest Impact Report
Learn about NatureVest and The Nature Conservancy's impact capital portfolio.
Press Release
The Nature Conservancy and BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group
Joining forces to pursue climate action and conservation on more than $850 million of timberland assets in the U.S.
Blog
Bridging the Nature Funding Gap
Could the Sustainable Water Impact Fund (SWIF) provide a new conservation north star for impact investing?
Our Mission
While philanthropy and public funding have long been essential to conserving our natural resources, the massive scale of today’s environmental challenges requires additional sources of financing. NatureVest’s mission is to engage private capital to rapidly scale critical conservation work around the world by creating investment opportunities in a wide variety of sectors that deliver environmental results and financial returns for investors.
To achieve this, we source and structure investments that support The Nature Conservancy’s mission, raise capital from investors looking to generate both financial returns and conservation outcomes and share our experience with the investment and conservation communities to accelerate the growth of the conservation investing marketplace.
Our Approach
Since 2014, we have helped source more than $2.3 billion of investment capital to put to work toward measurable conservation outcomes. In order to continue growing TNC's impact capital portfolio, NatureVest does three things:
Our team members work with our colleagues in TNC’s operating units, as well as with conservation collaborators around the world, to source and structure investment products that support the organization’s mission.
We engage impact investors to source impact capital in effective, scalable ways—using the TNC's deep insights in science, policy and practice and its relationships with the capital markets, businesses and government.
We share our knowledge and experience broadly to build a stronger community of support for investing in nature.
Our History
Throughout its history, TNC has achieved results through innovative transaction-based structures, such as fishing quota acquisition, debt restructuring, water funds, New Markets Tax Credits and others.
As the impact investing market began to take shape and grow, TNC saw an opportunity to leverage private capital for conservation. With support from the Robertson Foundation in 2010, TNC launched its impact capital strategy and created a deal team charged with developing investable conservation deals in North America. This support led to the 2012 launch of the Conservation Note—the organization’s first broad investment offering, providing all types of investors with a way to support conservation through investment. The response from investors was swift and positive, and the Note was fully subscribed within a year.
With support from the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, TNC created an international deal team focused on sourcing deals from around the world, including forest carbon finance, mitigation and debt restructuring for climate adaptation.
In 2014, with founding sponsorship from JPMorgan Chase & Co., TNC formed NatureVest, a dedicated and more comprehensive conservation finance platform. This allowed us to bring the two deal teams together and to leverage the combined expertise, scope and scale of both teams and of JPMorgan Chase & Co. NatureVest’s founding also enabled us to add additional expertise to build thought leadership for the growing conservation investing space.
Leadership Team
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Advisory Board
Providing a Platform for Conservation Investment
NatureVest creates and transacts investments aimed at delivering conservation results and financial returns for investors in a wide variety of geographies and sectors around the world. We collaborate with conservation teams on projects that engage the participation of a range of investors and generate a consistent source of capital to support the completion of these projects.
Strategies
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Forests & Carbon
Forests provide wildlife habitat, clean water, carbon storage and economic opportunity. TNC is transforming how we use timberlands, inspiring better land-use practices and protecting habitats. Learn more
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Ocean Protection
With marine ecosystems and fisheries around the world threatened by climate change and over-fishing, leaders across sectors are recognizing and leveraging potential solutions in nature. Learn more
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Sustainable Agriculture & Water
Thoughtful land use regimes and sustainable practices can maintain the world's current agricultural footprint and still provide food security for a population of 9 billion. Learn more
Now is the Time to Add Nature to Your Portfolio
NatureVest is developing a pipeline of deals that are ready to receive impact capital and can scale conservation work around the globe, while also delivering a financial return for investors.
Our investment opportunities have a range of risk and return profiles and therefore appeal to an expansive audience of conservation impact investors including, but not limited to individuals, foundations, family offices, pension funds and development finance institutions.
With NatureVest, TNC is at the forefront of the intersection between conservation and the marketplace. They’re putting real financial deals together and matching investors with projects for conservation impact.
Press Releases
Press Release
The Government of Belize partners with The Nature Conservancy to Conserve 30% of its Ocean Through Debt ConversionThe project is part of a groundbreaking, global plan to fund ocean conservation while providing fiscal and economic benefits for coastal nations
Press Release
The Nature Conservancy and BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group join forces to pursue climate action and conservationCollaboration aims to leverage potential of sustainably managed forests across the United States to address the biodiversity and climate crises.
Press Release
TNC, Dominion Energy Announce Innovative Collaboration for Solar Development on Former Coal Mine in Southwest VirginiaOne of the first utility-scale solar projects on former surface mines will be developed in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia.
News
Opportunity
Belize offers ocean 'blue' print with debt-for-reef swapBelize finalizes biggest debt-for-marine conservation deal.
Conservation Update
Reef ReliefBelize shows the growing potential of debt-for-nature swaps.
Initiative
$850m Timberland Portfolio to Aim for Positive Climate, Biodiversity ImpactA portion of BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group's forestry portfolio to be managed with the aim of having a positive impact on nature.
Videos
Resources
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2021 Impact Report
NatureVest, the conservation investing unit of The Nature Conservancy, engages private investment capital to rapidly scale critical conservation work around the world. Download
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2020 Impact Report
NatureVest 2020 Impact Report Download
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NatureVest Brochure
Philanthropy and public funding have long been essential to protecting our natural resources, but the massive scale of today’s environmental challenges requires additional sources of financing. Browse the brochure.
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Biodiversity Gap Paper
Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing Gap, Full Report Learn more
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Climate Finance Playbook
Innovative strategies to finance a cooler, safer planet. Read the report.
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Biodiversity Action Guide
A landscape assessment of an emerging market. This 2014 report documented the first-ever survey of conservation impact investing and revealed a market of approximately $23 billion between 2009-2014. Read the guide.
Videos
External Research Reports
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Making Conservation Finance Investable
Conservation finance is an undeveloped investment opportunity that offers the potential to conserve some of the world's vital ecosystems while also providing a financial return. Read the report.