Earth Finance launched last year with $14 million from investors to help global corporations map their net-zero strategies. With the acquisition of Water Foundry, a Denver-based global water consultant that specializes in water scarcity and quality strategies, Earth Finance aims to help clients “understand how the changing landscape of water affects their operations [and] leverage water and nature as strategic assets on the balance sheet,” said Earth Finance’s Garrett Kephart.
The deal follows Seattle-based Earth Finance’s acquisition of Molecule, also in Seattle, to expand its domain expertise in renewable fuels and low-carbon transport.
Water stewardship
Corporations including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Amazon are launching “water stewardship” strategies. “Increasingly, corporations are understanding and quantifying the value of nature for their business,” said Water Foundry’s Will Sarni, who will join the Earth Finance team.
Now, big companies are building nature-based strategies. “We’re building these capabilities so that we can help them navigate the complexities of those decisions,” Kephart told ImpactAlpha.
Climate finance
As it builds out its advisory business, Kephart says the goal is to also carve out a climate, water and nature-based financing specialty.
“We’ve been involved in the energy tax credit transfer marketplace and we’re starting to move towards being more like a boutique investment merchant bank,” he added. “Long term, we’ll be building a capital arm where we can invest at a larger scale on our balance sheet.”
