Investing in Carbon Projects with Indigenous Communities: A Scalable, High-integrity Path for Institutional Capital

At the intersection of climate finance and Indigenous rights lies a powerful opportunity: investing in carbon projects that are co-designed with Indigenous communities.

August 9 marks World Indigenous Peoples Day, a global moment to honour the cultures, knowledge systems, and resilience of Indigenous communities. It’s also a time to reflect on how climate action can and must be more inclusive, just, and community led.

At the intersection of climate finance and Indigenous rights lies a powerful opportunity: investing in carbon projects that are co-designed with Indigenous communities. These partnerships not only drive measurable climate impact but also uphold cultural integrity, biodiversity, and social equity.

Why Indigenous Partnerships Matter in Climate Finance
Indigenous peoples manage or have tenure rights over 25% of the world’s land[1], much of it rich in biodiversity and carbon stocks. They represent over 476 million individuals across 90 countries, preserving more than 4,000 distinct cultures. They are the stewards of 80% of the world’s biodiversity, holding deep knowledge of sustainable living and environmental harmony.

Despite this, they are often excluded from climate finance due to systemic barriers like land dispossession, cultural erasure, and socio-economic marginalization. World Indigenous Peoples Day is not just a celebration. It’s a call to action. Centring Indigenous leadership in climate solutions delivers not only carbon impact but also resilience, justice, and local empowerment.

Our Commitment: Ethical Investment Grounded in Partnership
Our fund is committed to supporting carbon projects that are led by or co-developed with Indigenous communities. These include:

• Forest Conservation: Protecting and restoring forests through Indigenous governance systems.
• Regenerative Agriculture: Supporting agroecological practices that enhance soil health and carbon storage.
• Blue Carbon Initiatives: Partnering with coastal communities to preserve mangroves, wetlands, and seagrasses.

Beyond their ethical and environmental significance, Indigenous-led carbon projects offer compelling advantages for institutional investors and impact funds. These projects are not only climate-resilient and socially grounded—they’re also financially strategic.

• Institutional-grade credits: Projects co-designed with Indigenous communities often generate high-integrity carbon credits that meet rigorous standards for additionality, permanence, and co-benefits.
• Risk mitigation: Indigenous partnerships significantly reduce common risks in carbon markets. Co-design reduces exposure to land disputes, governance breakdowns, and reputational damage while strengthening social license to operate. Projects built on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) foster long-term community support. This in the end inculcates the spirit of transparent and inclusive processes. This governance-first approach strengthens project durability and investor confidence.
• ESG compliance: Project frameworks support SFDR Article 9 or 8 categorization, align with UN PRI principles, and contribute to key SDGs, including 1, 13, and 15.

By integrating Indigenous leadership and financial transparency, these projects offer a triple win: climate impact, community empowerment, and investor-grade performance

Transparency as a Cornerstone

We recognize that financial transparency is critical to building trust and ensuring equitable outcomes. As outlined in the principles outlined in the Financial Transparency Guide | Terraspect, which I had the privilege to co-author.

This guide provides a framework for:

• Transparent fund flows and benefit-sharing mechanisms
• Inclusive stakeholder engagement
• Clear reporting on project outcomes and risks
• Accountability across the carbon value chain

By embedding these practices, we aim to ensure that Indigenous partners are not just beneficiaries—but co-owners and decision-makers.

Real-World Impact
Indigenous-led carbon projects are already delivering results:

• In the Amazon, communities have used carbon finance to fund forest patrols and cultural revitalization.[1]
• In Canada, First Nations are leading forest carbon initiatives that support local jobs and youth training.[2]
• In Southeast Asia, coastal communities are restoring mangroves while generating verified carbon credits.[3]

These projects demonstrate that when Indigenous leadership is central, climate solutions are more durable, ethical, and effective.

Looking Ahead: Opportunity to Scale with Integrity and Impact
As we scale our nature-based carbon investments, we remain guided by three core principles:

1. Respect: Upholding Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and cultural heritage.
2. Reciprocity: Ensuring mutual benefit and long-term partnership.
3. Transparency: Maintaining clear, honest communication and financial accountability.

We invite others in the climate finance space to adopt these principles and explore the Financial Transparency Guide as a resource for building trust-based, community-driven carbon projects.

Join the Movement
This World Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s move beyond acknowledgment to action. Let’s invest in climate solutions that are not only effective—but just, inclusive, and Indigenous-led.

To learn more about our approach or explore partnership opportunities, please get in touch. Together, we can build a climate future rooted in equity and respect.

Sources:

[1] Everland in partnership with BNP Paribas announces $50 million capital markets initiative to launch first Indigenous-led Amazon forest conservation projects under Equitable Earth Standard | Everland
[2] Announcing the First Nations Forest Carbon Toolkit | British Columbia Assembly of First Nations
[3] Reinventing mangrove restoration to meet the climate challenge in Southeast Asia | Cirad

[1] Importance of Indigenous Peoples’ lands for the conservation of Intact Forest Landscapes – Fa – 2020 – Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment – Wiley Online Library