Finance Earth and FSD Africa Investments announce $100 million Africa Nature Impact Fund

Finance Earth and FSD Africa Investments announced the launch of the Africa Nature Impact Fund, a platform targeting $100 million for early-stage nature and nature-based carbon projects across Africa. The announcement, reported by ESG Today on October 13, sets a $20 million first-close target for 2027 and includes a $6.6 million cornerstone commitment from FSDAi, the investment arm of development agency FSD Africa.

The $6.6 million anchor from FSDAi is the only commitment named in the announcement, leaving about $13.4 million to be raised from other backers if it counts toward the $20 million first close. The announcement gives no date for reaching the full $100 million.

Ann-Marie Chidzero, chief investment officer at FSD Africa Investments, said the anchor is intended to de-risk high-integrity nature projects and "crowd in the institutional and local investment" that African landscapes and communities need. James Mansfield, managing director at Finance Earth, said the fund is designed to finance projects equitably and build local investment and governance structures so that "African nature assets are financed by African financial institutions."

The platform is built to finance projects at different stages of development, from project preparation and commercial piloting through implementation, with the aim of moving them from pre-revenue to long-term contracted revenues. According to the two organizations, it will back only projects whose benefit-sharing arrangements direct a substantial share of gross carbon value to host communities.

The fund's stated goals include protecting or regenerating 4.5 million hectares and sequestering or avoiding more than 100 million tonnes of CO₂e over the lifetimes of its projects. It also aims to improve the livelihoods of 1.4 million people, half of them women, protect more than 60 animal and plant species and generate about $450 million in economic benefits for local communities. All of those figures are forward-looking targets set before a first close or a named project.

The organizations said more than 62% of Africa's GDP depends on natural capital, while investment in nature-based carbon and biodiversity projects remains below the levels needed, leaving many initiatives without the capital, technical support and market connections required to scale. Mansfield added that Africa holds a quarter of the planet's biodiversity.