Re-envisioning finance so that it may be in service to life.
Samantha Power is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Finance for Gaia. She is a Nature Finance Specialist and Ecological Economist based in Oakland, CA on the ancestral land of the Ohlone people.
Through Finance for Gaia, she supports clients to:
pursue cross-sector collaboration and cooperation
develop and implement visions and strategies that lead to transformative economic change
put finance in service to life.
Samantha builds bridges between:
the micro and the macro
on-the-ground regenerators and capital holders and policy makers
Earth systems and economic systems.
Finance for Gaia’s clients include: financial institutions, impact investors, multilateral development banks, UN programs, land trusts, advocacy organizations, and environmental non-profits. Services include: advisory, strategy, systems analysis, communications and storytelling, investment opportunity mapping, stakeholder mapping, impact assessment, ecosystem services valuation, policy analysis, and nature MRV.
Samantha’s guidance to her clients aims to deepen resilience and relationships in every bioregion. It is her personal mission to heal how humans interact with the Earth through the economy – moving from extraction and destruction to regeneration.
Samantha’s recent blogs:
Full list here.
Some Initial Reflections on CBD COP15
We have to balance our energy between working on smaller changes that can deliver quick wins and systemic changes that will take time to bear fruit. Read more >>
Finance Ministries, Central Banks and Supervisors Recognize Nature-Related Risks and Commit to Deepening Their Understanding
Members can work towards ensuring that economic activity and associated financial flows become increasingly aligned with a sustainable, nature-positive future. Read more >>
Can Carbon Offsets Support the Urgent Need to Conserve & Restore Nature?
Everyday we go without sufficient funding to protect ecosystems is a day we are losing irreplaceable, intelligent life that took billions of years to evolve. Read more >>
Samantha’s recent publications:
Full list here.
An Overview of Nature-Related Risks and Potential Policy Actions for Ministries of Finance: Bending the Curve of Nature Loss
(The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action)
This report analyzes the economic and financial risks of nature loss from the Ministry of Finance perspective, particularly those with fiscal implications. Read more >>
Scaling Up Ecosystem Restoration Finance: A Stocktake Report
(The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration)
Financing restoration at scale often requires a coalition of investors and donors that support a consortium of actors implementing a suite of actions on the ground. Read more >>
Mobilizing Private Finance for Nature
(The World Bank Group)
This report lays out two approaches to mobilizing private finance for nature: ‘greening finance’ and ‘financing green.’ Read more >>
Key work by others influencing Finance for Gaia’s approach:
Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis is One Generation
by: Paul Hawken
Regeneration … weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, and human dignity into a seamless tapestry of action, policy, and transformation. Read more >>
Biodiversity targets will not be met without debt and tax justice
by: Jessica Dempsey et al.
A proposal for 'tax reform and debt justice — to supercharge public financing for biodiversity. Read more >>
Common asset trusts to effectively steward natural capital and ecosystem services
by: Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski, et al
Common Asset Trusts are effective institutions for integrated natural capital stewardship. Read more >>