Sustainable Finance

Investment should create social value along with financial returns. Croatan Institute's work has used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to track trends within the sustainable and responsible finance field. Our work has analyzed the growth of community and place-based investing, developed new methods for achieving social and environmental impact across asset classes, and worked with institutional investors to take action on climate. In particular, we bring expertise in the clean energy and green bond space, public equity shareholder engagement, and international timberland investment.
Projects
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REEFS is an initiative coordinated by Croatan Institute with a growing group of advisers and partners seeking to address structural racism within finance and to integrate racial equity as an explicit factor of analysis and engagement within total portfolio approaches to investing for social impact.
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Croatan Institute is developing the concept of Rural Regenerative Organic Agricultural Districts, also known as ROADs, to help agricultural producers and landowners finance soil wealth using land-secured financing mechanisms and other place-based investing approaches.
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Croatan Institute has conducted an assessment of the capital needs of the regenerative grain and livestock sectors, with an emphasis on small to medium scale post-farmgate supply chain businesses. Many businesses have needed to pivot their business models during COVID19, and capturing new customers in a post-COVID19 world may take additional time, resources, equipment and capital. The full report on Regenerative Agriculture and COVID-19 Capital Needs is now available, highlighting the greatest needs in the regenerative meat and grain sectors to direct the capital flows required to support these emerging sectors.
Thank you to the farmers, processors and other businesses that participated by taking the survey and sharing their experiences.
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Supporting mission-driven organizations that are multiplying their impact through investment assets.
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Developing educational fossil-free portfolios using a total portfolio approach to investing in climate solutions.
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Helping investors examine climate change through various interconnected approaches: integrating climate change into your investments; reducing your portfolio’s carbon intensity, investing in climate solutions, divestment; engaging with corporations, and engaging with policymakers.
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Tracking SRI trends, based on intensive research, surveying, and analysis of institutional investors and money managers across all asset classes.
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Identifying and seizing opportunities for investor engagement on social and environmental issues across asset classes.
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Developing a framework for institutional investors to invest in clean energy bonds.
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Holding institutional investors accountable for land-grabbing in international agricultural holdings.
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Enabling mid-sized institutional investors to take action on climate change.
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Engaging civil society stakeholders and business leaders in conversation about a more resilient and sustainable economic system.
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Helping investors select impact strategies and adopt core metric sets to track performance toward their goals.
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