Up to $520,000 Blue Catalyst Mangrove Fund

The Blue Catalyst Fund, run by the non-profit Fair Carbon and the social enterprise Finance Earth, helps mangrove conservation and restoration carbon projects get to the point where investors will fund them. Selected projects get 8 to 16 months of technical support, financial advisory and milestone-based cash. The money is an unsecured contingent loan, not a grant: it is repaid with interest only if the project later raises implementation investment.

What you get:

• A total support package of $85,000 to $100,000 for pre-feasibility projects, or $480,000 to $520,000 for post-feasibility projects
• About 35 percent as direct cash, released phase by phase as agreed milestones are met, for costs such as community engagement, ecological assessments, staff time, travel and carbon standard fees
• About 65 percent as in-kind technical assistance from the BCF team and partners TerraCarbon, Silvestrum and Nika, covering feasibility work, carbon modelling, PDD drafting and transaction advisory
• Online training through the Blue Carbon Academy and cohort workshops with other projects
• No equity taken and no collateral; repayment only if follow-on investment is secured

What you'll do:

• Pre-feasibility projects: 8 months establishing feasibility, including site assessments, a draft carbon model, stakeholder engagement and a written feasibility assessment
• Post-feasibility projects: 16 months of project design, validation and investment preparation, including baselines, a pilot, an MRV plan, PDD submission and investor engagement

• Mangrove conservation or restoration projects aiming to generate revenue from verified carbon units (seagrass and other blue carbon projects are not eligible)
• Open globally, except projects in jurisdictions sanctioned or under scrutiny by the Financial Action Task Force, or in areas under Level 4 US Travel Advisory or FCDO advice against all travel
• Minimum size: a delimited restoration area of about 1,000 hectares, or a conservation area of about 5,000 hectares, or a carbon volume of 1 million VCUs
• Must use CCP-eligible programmes and CCP-approved methodologies, with exceptions considered case by case
• Post-feasibility applicants must provide a comprehensive feasibility assessment
• Must commit to the BCF's principles for high-quality blue carbon projects
• One organisation may submit several projects, each with a separate application