​Financing for nature-based climate solutions needs to look a lot more like infrastructure project finance

​Presented by Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Natural Climate Solutions Initiative, Stanford Sustainability Accelerator, and in collaboration with Integrity Global Partners

​Nature-based carbon projects require capital at a scale that cannot be met through grants, philanthropy, or voluntary corporate buyers alone. Mobilizing institutional capital will require more than high-quality projects—it will require the legal, commercial, financial, and governance infrastructure that enables investors to finance long-duration assets with confidence.

​Project finance is the blueprint for achieving this. The building blocks can be adapted to nature-based carbon, including carbon rights, due diligence and underwriting, bankable revenue structures, financing contracts, risk transfer mechanisms, and governance frameworks. Some of these solutions can be adopted by market participants today to improve the efficiency and bankability of individual transactions. Others will require broader market infrastructure and regulatory evolution to attract new sources of capital and enable nature-based carbon to mature into an institutional asset class.

​This event brings together nature-based project developers, buyers, investors, lawyers, and finance professionals to discuss how we can make financing for nature-based carbon projects more like financing for infrastructure, and in the process, bring in more institutional capital to invest in nature.

​Over presentations, panel discussions, and networking time, we will discuss the insights on these topics that are synthesized in a forthcoming book on The Future of Carbon Finance led by Cheri Sugal.

​Event Schedule

​1:30pm Arrivals. Coffee and water available

​2:00pm Presentation and Panels

​4:15pm Small Group Conversations and Networking on the Rooftop. Light snacks and non-alcoholic refreshments available.

​5:30pm end of formal programming. Conversations can continue: we have the space until 6:30pm

​6:30pm final departures

​Book chapters and panel topics

​Ch 1: Rebuilding the Capital Stack: Connecting Carbon Markets with Institutional Capital

​Ch 2: The Legal Title Infrastructure Carbon Finance Requires

​Ch 3: Standardizing Investment Readiness Due Dilligence

​Ch 4: Bankable Revenue — Creating Financeable Cash Flows

​Ch 5: Standardized Contracts for Commercial Finance

​Ch 6: Insurance and Risk Allocation

​Ch 7: Project Set Up: SPVs, Tax Efficiency, & Good Governance

​Contributors to the book (and potential panelists) include:

• ​Cheri Sugal, Integrity Global Partners

• ​Benoît Clement, VCM+ Fellow

• ​Sam Lampert, former Mirova, Equitable Earth

• ​Greg Adams, Chestnut Carbon

• ​Shi Min Tan, GCMU

• ​Matthew Brady, BeZero

• ​Tim Duehrkoop, XILVA

• ​Sophie Whitehead, Climate Impact Partners

• ​Peter Mayer, Stairs Dillenbeck Finley Mayer PLLC

• ​Erika Anderson, Earthshot Labs, former ERM

• ​James Kench, RootRisk

• ​Natalia Dorfman, Kita

• ​Lynn Riley, American Forest Foundation

• ​Thomas Hou, Wildlife Conservation Society

• ​Anna Hickey, Phillip Lee LLP

• ​Simon Puleston-Jones, Syndicated Carbon

• ​Connor Nolan, Stanford University