The fifth Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community online discussion will dive into the benefits of Blended Finance for Nature as a robust conservation finance mechanism in the time of Coronavirus and beyond.
July 31st, 11am EST
Registration required
Blended Finance is defined as “the use of catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to increase private sector investment in sustainable development” (Convergence). This was one of the conservation finance mechanisms that remains potentially robust despite the current Covid19 pandemic (see CFA Covid discussion). Three panelists coming from diverse organizations active in this area will discuss the benefits and challenges of Blended Finance as a conservation finance mechanism. They will discuss, in the time of coronavirus, how Blended Finance can be used to ensure the continuation of capital flows and alignment of incentives in conservation worldwide. Some specific topics may include how the current Covid19 pandemic has impacted the formation and execution of Blended Finance mechanisms. As well, looking ahead, what are some of the lessons learned as a result of this pandemic that can help strengthen Blended Finance mechanisms.
Moderated by:
David Meyers - Executive Director, CFA
Panelists
Adhiti Gupta - Convergence
Adhiti is a Manager at Convergence where she leads the market acceleration program for blended finance vehicles in emerging markets. She manages Design Funding, which provides early stage grant support for the design of blended finance vehicles aligned to the SDGs that aim to attract private capital at scale. Prior to Convergence, Adhiti advised funds, family offices and foundation making impact investments in developed and emerging markets while working at RPCK, a boutique law firm in New York City.
Adhiti has previously practiced in India, where she advised on cross-border M&A transactions and private equity/venture capital transactions. Adhiti also counseled social enterprises as a consultant with Accion Microfinance Council and a project manager with Columbia Impact Investing Initiative. Adhiti holds a master’s degree from Columbia Law School, and a law degree from National Law School of India University. She has been awarded the Temasek Foundation Leadership Enrichment and Regional Networking Award by the National University of Singapore.
Gregory Watson - Natural Capital Lab, IDB
Gregory Watson currently leads the IDB’s Natural Capital Lab, funded with $44M from the governments of France and the United Kingdom. The lab serves as a one-stop shop for the IDB Group and partners to drive innovation in natural capital finance and biodiversity mainstreaming. It was created to incubate, accelerate, and scale new solutions to pressing environmental problems by looking at nature as asset. Previously, Gregory was a Lead Specialist at the IDB Lab’s Climate-Smart Agriculture team. He led the IDB’s first equity investment in oceans, led an award-winning Forest Investment Program equity investment in a silvopastoral system in Brazil, helped develop the first Biodiversity Habitat Bank in Latin America, worked to develop a new asset class for natural capital trading, and designed other private sector projects in forestry, development impact bonds, and technology in the natural capital space.
Prior to this, he led the IDB Lab Environment and Clean Energy team in conceptualizing, overseeing, and implementing projects, investments, and research in clean and efficient energy, natural capital, and adaptation. He created the EcoMicro green microfinance program, which was selected by the UNFCCC as a global “Lighthouse Award”. He also conceptualized and launched the Climatescope, the first-ever ranking of the investment climate for climate investment in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and designed the first private sector Forest Investment Program project in the world, in Mexico. A successful fundraiser, he also raised over $50M from the GCF, CIFs, and bilateral donors in this position.
Mr. Watson has a Master’s degree in International Development from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a bachelor’s from Tufts University.
Avril Benchimol - Blended Finance, Global Environment Facility
Avril Benchimol is leading the blended finance initiative at the GEF. She has sixteen years of experience in capital markets and structured finance both in multilateral institutions and investment banking. For the last eight years she worked at IDB-Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and at IDB Lab, designing and executing financial solutions for private sector clients in Latin America and the Caribbean. The projects included the use of guarantees, loans, and structured financing to issue sustainable and green bonds in both local currency and USD. She also led a green microfinance facility in 11 countries that facilitated microfinance clients’ mitigation and adaptation initiatives.
Prior to joining the IDB Group, she spent six years working in investment banking for Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas Fortis in London, Madrid, and Brussels. Her main areas of expertise included the structuring and origination of equity and debt transactions as well as the sales of structured equity derivatives. In 2011, she received her Master’s of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown, where she graduated with honors.
Background on the Conservation Finance Alliance and the Coronavirus and Conservation Finance Community Series
The Conservation Finance Alliance (CFA) is the leading global professional alliance of conservation finance experts, practitioners, and organizations. The CFA’s mission is to promote awareness, expertise, and innovation in conservation finance globally.
The CFA has recently introduced a new series of online discussions regarding the impact of COVID-19 on conservation finance, titled “Coronavirus and the Conservation Finance Community”.
To date, three online discussions have been held. The first discussion focused generally on CTF’s, with representatives from CAFÉ and RedLAC discussing how the pandemic was impacting operations, finance flows, and what the future could look like. The second discussion identified specific conservation finance tools that are viewed as most robust in the face of the crisis. Following the taxonomy of conservation finance mechanisms outlined in the CFA white paper “Conservation Finance: A Framework”, three tools were identified: Public-Private Partnerships, Blended Finance, and Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development.
The CFA is continuing the discussion by holding three additional online calls, focusing on each of these priority finance mechanisms. The first of the three calls, which focused on Public-Private Partnerships with an emphasis on Marine Protected Areas, was recently completed on June 18th (recording available here).
The remaining calls are Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Development planned for July 10th and Blended Finance planned for sometime in late July (date will be announced shortly).