Updates

On World Ocean Day 2022, Earth Security calls for a raised collective ambition to finance nature for coastal resilience at scale. With the M40 Initiative, we work towards mobilising private sector finance for mangroves as a powerful nature-based solution for coastal resilience, climate mitigation and sustainable livelihoods.

Alejandro Litovsky, founder and CEO of the UK based com­pany Earth Security sees a huge opportunity for investors to invest in natural as an asset class; by investing in protection, restoration, and regeneration economies.

Swiss bank UBS has announced a US$2 million investment in Earth Security’s catalytic Mangrove 40 (M40) initiative. The initiative, which Earth Security first described earlier this year, aims to scale up innovative finance for a pipeline of mangrove conservation and restoration projects across the tropical belt of the planet, the remaining mangrove frontier. Additionally, UBS is matching 10 percent of contributions made by its clients.

Today, at a ceremony during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Earth Security was named as a winner of The Global Environment Facility’s Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation. A competition that provides seed funding for innovative initiatives designed to help vulnerable countries cope with the worsening climate crisis.

Earth Security is moving to implementation of its 'municipal mangrove bond' proposal by partnering with HSBC Australia. The Australia-first project is part of HSBC Australia’s broader commitment to developing new financial tools, including nature-based climate solutions, which can support the transition to a low carbon economy and also protect livelihoods in local communities. The two-year project builds on previous work conducted by Earth Security throughout 2020, which identified the opportunity for municipal districts and cities to issue bonds to support mangrove ecosystems and also 40 specific locations, including Brisbane and Darwin, with the potential to do so.

Australian Banking + Finance features the work Earth Security is doing in partnership with HSBC Australia which is positioning the bank as a leader in financing innovative nature-based solutions. The article announces the launch of our new project to create a 'mangrove bond', an innovative financing solution that recognises the value of this vital ecosystem in the fight against climate change, alongside other ESG product innovations in Australian capital markets.

As part of our ongoing initiative to facilitate private sector engagement for financing ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in the Philippines, Earth Security co-convened a Webinar with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) on the Financing and Valuation of Ecosystem-based Adaptation in the Philippines.

Innovative insurance products can play an increasingly important role in facilitating investment in nature-based climate solutions. In the aftermath of Hurricane Delta, Oliver Gordon explores the Mesoamerican Reef programme, to understand its pioneering role in helping communities build resilience and recover from natural disasters. Alejandro Litovsky, founder & CEO of Earth Security comments on the transformational potential of these products which enable insurance companies to develop practical solutions for their clients, that recognise the economic value of nature’s services and ensure that local stakeholders are invested in protecting the natural assets on their doorstep.

Earth Security's new report provides a practical roadmap for public finance institutions (DFIs, donors, foundations) and long-term investors to use blended finance strategically to unlock investments in nature.

Alejandro Litovsky, Founder & CEO, Earth Security, talks with Sam McManus, Director at Uxolo Development Finance. They focus on the role of nature-based investment opportunities can play in securing the commitments to net-zero, delivering economic returns for investors and in protecting and regenerating our natural ecosystems. The discussion references Earth Security’s mangroves case study for CDC Group plc for Zephyr Power’s 50MW wind project near Karachi, Pakistan, creating the mangroves 40 cities network and the mangrove municipal bond fund.

In this article for ESG Clarity, the source of insight for investors and asset managers, Alejandro Litovsky CEO of Earth Security and Jaffer Machano, Head of the Municipal Finance Programme of the UN Capital Development Fund, draw on Earth Security’s recent proposals on financing mangroves to show how Least Developed Countries (LDCs) many of which are rich in mangrove ecosystems, can maximise the benefits to their economies and long-term climate resilience by participating in a global carbon investment pipeline.

On Earth Day our CEO Alejandro Litovsky gave a keynote speech at The Exponential Climate Action Summit – Financing the Race to Zero, a global event organised by We Have No Time which was watched by over 5 million people around the world. He proposed a practical blueprint to bring the value of nature-based solutions to the worlds of finance, and unlock the potential of nature to fight climate change on a global, exponential scale.

Euromoney features Earth Security's practical analysis and proposals to make biodiversity and natural capital an investable asset in sustainable finance. What does it actually mean for banks and asset managers and what can the private sector do to restore the balance of nature? The article focuses on Earth Security's innovative bid to use municipal bonds to finance mangrove restoration in countries from the US to Bangladesh, which can be aggregated in a global fund that provides the size required by international investors.

Our webinar brought together finance leaders that are shaping blended finance models for nature across the public and private sectors, to reflect on how they approach these models and what the opportunities ahead are.

Uxolo, the development finance publication, interviews Earth Security and CDC Group on their collaboration to map the investment value of mangroves for its investment in Pakistan, and reflects on the wider findings and applications of Earth Security's new report on Financing the Earth's Assets: The case for Mangroves as a Nature-based Climate Solution.

Earth Security’s CEO chaired a panel of banks and investors at Environmental Finance’s Natural Capital Investment Conference 2021, which explored investment strategies, the market gaps and opportunities to grow a global pipeline of nature-based investments.

On February 17th 2021, Earth Security launched a new programme to help the insurance and reinsurance sector in the Philippines to capture some of these opportunities. The programme will help develop innovative products, underwriting models and partnerships as part of the sector’s climate leadership. By underwriting risks to companies in every industry sector, the insurance and reinsurance sector can play a catalytic role in sending market signals for companies to incorporate the value of nature more actively in their business models.

Earth Security, Patagonia and the Woodland Trust join together for a new podcast episode from Edie.net. This features an exclusive biodiversity-focused conversation about the challenges and opportunities to making nature and biodiversity a key part of the business agenda.

The UN Capital Development Fund inaugurates its 2021 podcast series by interviewing Alejandro Litovsky. The podcast discusses how investments in natural capital can help LDCs reach their economic and development goals; and the type of investors, investment strategies and transactions succeed in low-income countries.

By recognising the value of America's natural capital, President Biden can refresh US climate leadership, while vowing to mobilise finance for solutions to domestic issues. A 'Natural Capital Council' can advise the President on how US industries, states and cities can use nature-based solutions to build their economic resilience. Such a council can help pull together the significant expertise, private capital and innovative finance models that are readily available across the United States.

Euromoney Magazine interviews Alejandro Litovsky, CEO of Earth Security, on the agenda for Biden's Presidency on climate change. The US president’s prompt action in rejoining the Paris Agreement has given encouragement to environmentalists at home and abroad. What should be next on his green hit list?

In his monthly column in the new Sustainable Business Review, Mike Scott analyses the latest news developments in sustainable finance, from the boom in ESG funds to biodiversity climbing up the investment agenda

Earth Security’s new report proposes the financing of mangroves as a powerful nature-based climate solution. The report quantifies the value of mangroves as an asset for investors, and proposes a blueprint to embed this value in the financing of climate adaptation of vulnerable cities. In doing so, Earth Security is proposing to use nature-based solution as a cost-effective way to close the gap in financing of $65 trillion that cities need to upgrade their infrastructure to deal with climate change by 2030.

Following her participation in a webinar of our Financing Earth’s Assets programme, we caught up with Jennifer Pryce, President and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital to explore her thinking on nature-based investments. She has invested in some of the most promising transactions in this space, from the world’s first ‘sovereign blue bond’ issued by the Republic of the Seychelles, to innovative ‘forest resilience bonds’ that address wildfires in California. At the start of 2021, we reflect with Jennifer on the measures that can accelerate the pace of change.

Forbes covers the launch of Earth Security's mangroves report. “The evidence on the value of nature is clear. But we must move faster and more boldly in investing in nature’s assets; from isolated small projects to a planetary scale,” said Alejandro Litovsky, chief executive of Earth Security. “The mind-boggling economic value of mangroves as a climate solution is a perfect example of why investing in natural assets is the route to align ecological and economic returns.”