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Chocolate at Risk?: Why sustainable finance is crucial to ensuring a steady cocoa supply for the world’s chocolate industry
Smallholder cocoa farmers in Côte d’Ivoire produce 40 percent of the world cocoa supply. Yet the vast majority still live in poverty due to declining productivity, and in the absence of long-term financing opportunities, many have been changing to other crops. Rainforest Alliance’s Helen Roy describes how socially-minded investors are mobilizing capital to help these farmers revive their land.
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- Agriculture, Environment
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(With Video) One Acre Fund’s Drive Toward Sustainable Farming and Sustainable Finance: An interview with Stephanie Hanson
Today is Thanksgiving here in the United States, so we’re taking time to think about the farmers that bring forth our bounty, not just in the U.S., but around the world. NextBillion managing editor Scott Anderson spoke with Stephanie Hanson, Director of Policy and Outreach at One Acre Fund, a nonprofit based in East Africa that provides loans, training and other agricultural services to farmers in four countries.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Sustainable Farming Needs Sustainable Finance: How Rainforest Alliance helps the environment by helping farmers get loans
Lenders consider agriculture to be particularly risky. Farms are often located in remote areas, crops are vulnerable to pests and unpredictable weather, and prices are susceptible to rapid changes. To help address these challenges, the Rainforest Alliance launched its Sustainable Finance Initiative, which helps farmers and SMEs access different types of loans.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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The Doughnut Hole in Sustainable Finance
Despite the recent upsurge in attention to "social," "impact," and "clean tech" investing, there is still a structural gap ? a doughnut hole ? in sustainable finance. But this also means that there is a huge opportunity for visionary financiers to invent the new investment categories and asset classes needed to fill this gap.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
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Another Major Milestone for Brazil?s Sustainable Finance Sector
The triple-bottom-line focused Stratus VCIII fund announced its first investment this morning, a major milestone for the firm and more good news for anyone watching the growth of Brazil’s sustainable finance sector. The company, Ecosorb Environmental Protection Technology, serves as an...
- Categories
- Education