The Nature Conservancy, in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase, announces a $6 million funding renewal for the Conservancy’s NatureVest program.
NatureVest, the Conservancy’s impact investment unit, was established in 2014 with founding support and ongoing guidance from JPMorgan Chase. Since its founding, NatureVest has completed nearly $200 million in transactions across each of its five business lines:
- water markets;
- green infrastructure for stormwater management in cities;
- working landscapes;
- debt swaps for climate adaptation; and
- sustainable agriculture.
The program’s mission is to create and transact investable deals that deliver conservation results and financial returns for investors.
“JPMorgan Chase’s increased commitment to NatureVest is an outstanding way to celebrate the past two years of our collaboration. Together, we have completed six landmark deals on three continents and mobilized over 100 investors, from individual supporters to global insurers,” said Mark Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Our joint efforts are a reminder of the strength of JPMorgan’s commitment to the program and the planet—and a testament to how collaboration between leaders in natural resource management and finance can unlock new sources of capital and new ways of working.”
Douglas B. Petno, CEO of Commercial Banking for JPMorgan Chase who is also Vice Chair of the NatureVest Advisory Board, made the announcement at the Conservancy’s May 25th bi-annual gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. In recognition of its historic collaboration with the Conservancy, JPMorgan Chase was the gala’s corporate honoree.
“We are incredibly proud to partner with an outstanding organization like The Nature Conservancy and believe we are building something valuable and transformational,” said Petno. “With NatureVest, we are bringing the broad-based capabilities of our firm together with the Conservancy to transform the way we help communities address critical environmental concerns.”
This $6 million grant, which aligns with JPMorgan Chase’s focus on helping cities and communities find solutions to key challenges, is the largest philanthropic contribution that the firm has ever made to an environmental organization. It will strengthen NatureVest’s operations, build a practitioner field for investing in nature and enable ideas to develop into deals at an accelerated rate through a newly established Strategic Acceleration Fund that will provide catalytic resources for innovative projects within and outside of the Conservancy.
The ongoing collaboration aims to continue to produce groundbreaking results in an effort to build the conservation impact investing marketplace.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the innovative collaboration between JPMorgan Chase and The Nature Conservancy and acknowledge its potential to grow a market for investing in nature,” said Marc Diaz, Managing Director, NatureVest. “With support from JPMorgan Chase, we will be able to accelerate our pipeline of over $400 million of near-term deals, increasing the scale of the Conservancy’s impact on our lands and waters.”