Where Capital Meets Conservation

The art and science of raising and deploying capital for conservation is at the heart of the work being done by Leigh Whelpton ’12 MESc. She is executive director of The Conservation Finance Network. “You often hear people talk about how there’s not enough money,” says Whelpton. “That’s not quite true. It’s a lack of capacity and connection, a lack of risk-adjusted return opportunities, and a limited supply of projects that can meet the requirements for financing. We focus on increasing the project pipeline and scaling up capacity to get more money on the ground.”