Bettina helped launch EFM Investments and Advisory and joined as CEO in 2008. EFM has over $200M in capital under management and advisement and manages 130,000 acres in the western US on behalf of investors for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, water protection, timber production, rural job creation and tribal land repatriation, as well as advising on […]
World Water Week opened this week on August 23 which means sustainable water management is on a lot of minds and on Monday, several attendees attempted to pinpoint the true value of water. They found that valuation of water is on the rise as multiple sectors, including the financial, are seeking to understand its role and risks better.
This Sunday marks the beginning of World Water Week 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Since 1991, the event has brought together experts, practitioners, policymakers, and business actors from around the world to explore critical issues around water. In that time, water stress and water scarcity have emerged as some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. The UN estimates that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may be living under water stressed conditions. As our global community strives to curb and adapt to climate change, it is increasingly urgent that we work together to develop innovative solutions to water challenges; World Water Week provides a crucial springboard for sharing ideas to help solve these problems.
Since June, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has received a flurry of climate plans as the climate talks in Paris loom ever closer. And while these carbon-cutting plans are complex and varied, many of them include concrete objectives regarding forests and land use.
From Lima to Jakarta to the Hague, angry citizens are using courts to hold governments and companies accountable for climate change. That’s good for the climate, and maybe good for carbon markets – as companies become more and more sensitive to the risk of doing nothing.
More than 200 major brands use carbon offsets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent Ecosystem Marketplace report. Representatives from two of those companies, Volcom and Intuit, spoke at Sustainable Brands about how they’re promoting offsetting from within.
Companies worth more than $4 trillion have promised to reduce their impact on the world’s forests, and more than one-third of the new pledges came just last year, which more than doubled 2013’s total. Now comes the hard part: keeping those promises honest, and helping smaller suppliers adjust to the new demand. Here’s how public finance for forest protection can help.
Forest-carbon projects are now conserving as much forested land as you’ll find in all of Malaysia. It’s a stunning achievement, but one that needs to get big fast if we’re to make a dent in global greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, jurisdictions like the Brazilian state of Acre are developing "jurisdictional REDD" programs to do just that.
Colombia’s civil war had the perverse effect of protecting the forests in and around the Tolo River, but peace brought loggers and cattlemen, while poverty drove desperate forest people to begin chopping trees. Here’s how they used REDD to fight deforestation and build the foundation for a more sustainable future.
Parties with an interest in regulations falling under the Clean Water Act are still sorting out the implications of the recently finalized Clean Water Rule. Meanwhile, green infrastructure scored several victories this month as New York City, Detroit and Xiamen contemplate using the practice to manage stormwater overflows.