Imperative and CrossBoundary Group launch early-stage funding facility to accelerate high-integrity nature-based carbon projects

The Facility is designed to catalyze investable, large-scale nature-based carbon projects in critical ecosystems across emerging markets including in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Amazon.

The first project funded under the Facility is a large-scale reforestation and revegetation project in Sub-Saharan Africa covering up to 100,000 hectares of badly degraded land. The parties expect to fund further early-stage projects under the Facility this year, and it is anticipated that the Facility will help to catalyze projects in Imperative’s pipeline with sequestration potential excess of 50 million tones of CO2 equivalent, creating thousands of local in-country jobs and flowing millions of dollars to communities in the Global South.

The voluntary carbon market suffers from a lack of available capital for early-stage feasibility, planning, and design work.

“Without financing for critical early-stage activities, many projects never make it to market. This is particularly true in underserved markets, where early-stage project risk is compounded by real or perceived country risk considerations,” said Kate Wharton, Managing Director of the Fund for Nature at CrossBoundary. “Early-stage funding is critical for scaling the pipeline of institutional-grade nature-based carbon projects.”

The new Facility makes financing available to Imperative to conduct early-stage work on projects in its pipeline in order to progress through the feasibly and planning phase before reaching final investment decision on full-scale project funding. It complements Imperative’s Project Funding Agreement with Rubicon Carbon and Freepoint Commodities announced last year.

“This is an excellent example of financial innovation applied to unlock scale and quality in the carbon markets,” said Scobie Mackay, CEO of Imperative. “We are delighted to be collaborating with CrossBoundary to develop creative ways to unlock institutional-scale investment in high-quality carbon projects in the Global South.”

This facility marks the inaugural investment by the Fund for Nature, CrossBoundary’s third investment platform focused on climate impact in emerging markets. Last year, the Fund for Nature was awarded a design funding grant from the SDG Impact Finance Initiative supported by Convergence Blended Finance.

About Imperative

Imperative is a mission driven, next-gen carbon project development company focused on producing ultra-high-quality carbon credits. Our mission is to design, develop, own and operate, at scale, the best carbon credit projects in the world and to optimize those projects using technology.

Imperative brings together multi-decade experience in carbon and conservation projects, carbon markets, major project execution and emerging market, cross-border structuring and finance. In order to drive the largest and best possible climate, sustainable development and biodiversity outcomes per dollar deployed, Imperative is focused on the Global South. Our project pipeline spans Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with a focus on native-species reforestation, mangrove restoration, large-scale agroforestry, and high- quality conservation projects.

Imperative firmly believes in the use of the voluntary carbon market to drive a just climate transition, with projects designed to create not only large-scale climate and biodiversity impacts, but transformative benefit sharing outcomes for local communities.

About CrossBoundary

CrossBoundary Group’s mission is to unlock capital to make a strong return and a lasting difference in underserved markets globally. The firm has over 250 professional staff, and offices in Accra, Amman, Bangkok, Beirut, Bogota, Chișinău, Dakar, Dubai, Ebene, Erbil, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos, London, Mumbai, Nairobi, New York, Perth, Ébène, San Salvador, Tunis, and Washington D.C.

CrossBoundary Advisory was founded in 2011 and provides a broad spectrum of investment and transaction advisory services across a range of sectors in underserved markets globally. CrossBoundary Energy was launched in 2015 and is sub-Saharan Africa’s leading provider of renewable energy services to commercial and industrial businesses. CrossBoundary Energy Access was launched in January 2019 as Africa’s first project finance facility for mini-grids, delivering first time power to rural households and businesses. CrossBoundary Real Estate provides affordable housing and related infrastructure in East Africa.

The Fund for Nature was launched in 2024 to accelerate the development of high-quality nature-based solutions in emerging markets by investing in early-stage carbon projects and developers with exceptional climate, biodiversity, and community impact.