Let’s Stop Pretending Capital Will Flow to Nature-Based Solutions on Its Own

by Shaun O’Rourke, Managing Director

Billions of dollars are sitting on the sidelines, earmarked for nature-based solutions. Forest restoration. Regenerative wood products. Sustainable agriculture and conservation. Climate-smart rural economies. Yet while the headlines suggest momentum, the reality is stark: very little of this capital is actually moving. 

Projects are often underdeveloped and undercapitalized, unsure of the right revenue model or investment pathway.  

Investors, meanwhile, guard their preferences like trade secrets — rate, term, and risk tolerances are rarely disclosed, and due diligence processes remain opaque. The result? A predictable stall: projects too advanced or too large for grants but not yet ready for financings. 

This isn’t a pipeline problem. It’s a project development problem.  

What QV’s National RFI Revealed 

When Quantified Ventures launched a request for information to surface forestry and wood products projects in the United States, we didn’t just collect ideas — we tested whether the market was truly investable. What we found confirmed what we had long suspected: most projects were not investment-ready. 

The diversity of responses was striking. We heard from land trusts eager to pilot new regenerative agriculture approaches, from conservation organizations interested in blending traditional ecological knowledge with carbon markets, from entrepreneurs building innovative wood product enterprises, and from municipalities seeking ways to monetize watershed services. All of them shared a common hurdle: they lacked the momentum — and often the technical assistance — to take the leap from vision to viable business model. 

At the same time, investors told us they wanted in, but were reluctant to disclose their deal preferences. That left projects pitching blindly, burning precious time and capital.  

As a result, the winners weren’t necessarily the most innovative ideas — they were the ones with an experienced project team that could orchestrate the messy middle and package projects in a manner that resonated with investors. 

The projects that advanced weren’t just the best ideas. They were the ones backed by developers who could stitch together the technical, legal, and financial components from the start. 

Project Developers as the Cornerstone 

Here’s the reality: we don’t have nearly enough project developers in this space. And it’s not because there aren’t talented people who are capable of doing the work — it’s because the economics don’t pencil and the time horizons are long. 

Getting a project investment-ready takes months, sometimes years, of structuring, modeling, community engagement, and risk analysis. But developers don’t usually get paid until a deal closes. Philanthropic grants rarely cover the full cost, and commercial capital won’t touch a project until it’s already polished. So, most people just can’t afford to make a career of it. 

That scarcity is one of the main reasons so much climate capital is stuck. Even the best projects stall out without someone to shepherd them through the messy middle. 

Very few projects are positioned to capture the opportunities that do exist. They’re simply not structured in a way investors can underwrite.  

The missing middle isn’t just a gap between projects and investors. It’s a gap in the market for developers — and filling it is the only way to unlock capital at scale. 

We Need to Play a Different Game 

At Quantified Ventures, we see our role as helping projects and investors meet in the middle. In the RFI, that meant more than just collecting submissions — it meant clarifying what investors were looking for, working with project sponsors to refine their ideas, and identifying structures that could realistically move capital.  

Sometimes that looked like layering grants with commercial financing, other times it meant helping a project team think through repayment linked to carbon revenues or other ecosystem services. 

Our approach is hands-on and collaborative: we work alongside project teams to strengthen their investment case and alongside investors to ensure opportunities are presented in a way that meets their diligence needs.  

The takeaway is clear — project developers aren’t optional. They are essential to connecting the promise of nature-based solutions with the capital required to bring them to life. 

Closing the Gap 

Investors are eager. Communities are ready. Projects are emerging. What’s missing is a deliberate system that empowers developers to turn ideas into investable assets.  

If the sector is serious about scaling nature-based solutions, the project developer role must be elevated and funded. Without it, we’ll keep celebrating paper pipelines while forests burn. With it, we can truly unlock the billions waiting to flow into projects that deliver measurable impact and real returns. 

The future of nature-based solutions isn’t just about more capital. It’s about smarter connections. And that’s what project developers make possible. 

At Quantified Ventures, we remain committed to supporting both project originators and investors in bridging this missing middle — because only by doing so will we see nature-based solutions achieve the scale the climate crisis demands.