3 September 2016: The Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC) was launched during the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC). The CPIC aims to create new opportunities for return-seeking private investment in conservation. Coinciding with the launch of CPIC, the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) released a new Natural Capital Protocol, a framework aiming to generate credible and actionable information for private sector decision makers.

Founded by IUCN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Credit Suisse, and Cornell University, CPIC’s objective is to develop new investment models and funding streams to address the gap in funding ecosystem conservation, a gap estimated at US$200-300 billion annually. CPIC intends to serve as hub for investors, financial institutions and country-level partners with the ability to develop and implement projects that produce financial as well as environmental returns.

According to its Statement of Intent, CPIC will aim to deliver the following outputs: measures of return and monitoring systems for natural and social capital; enhanced expertise on finance vehicles for investment, including through de-risking, blended finance, cash-flow analysis and business planning; priority “blueprints” for delivering risk-adjusted returns from specific types of investment in natural capital; transparent and equitable governance of natural capital as a condition for investment and increased capacity of NGOs, small and medium-sized enterprises and governments.

The Coalition follows up on a recommendation made in a report published in early 2016 by IUCN, Credit Suisse and other partners. The report, titled ‘Conservation Finance – From Niche to Mainstream: the Building of an Institutional Asset Class,’ presents a toolkit of “investable ideas” for increasing investment in the conservation sector. It notes that implementing these tools “will require a strong collaboration between the financial and environmental communities on new and creative ways to solve the financial, structuring and conservation challenges at hand.”

In addition, the NCC presented a new Natural Capital Protocol at WCC. The Protocol aims to help businesses measure and incorporate natural capital in their decision making, including identifying risks and opportunities for businesses related to natural capital. It serves as a standardized approach to identify, measure and value impacts and dependencies on natural capital.

Among other objectives, the Protocol aims to help businesses to: reduce material costs and risk of supply chain interruptions due to extreme weather events; realize efficiency gains; reduce compliance costs with environmental legislation and regulation; identify new revenue streams and products; identify benefits and negative impacts to local communities through improved natural capital; and support a social license to operate. [IUCN Press Release] [CPIC Statement of Intent] [Conservation Finance – From Niche to Mainstream: the Building of an Institutional Asset Class] [NCC Press Release] [Natural Capital Protocol]