CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF)
The CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF) builds on CGIAR's global scientific expertise and networks to drive sustainable, climate-smart and nature-positive food systems. Serving as a technical partner for financial institutions and investors, ImpactSF integrates science-based impact metrics across the investment lifecycle—from fund design and pipeline development to implementation, monitoring, measurement, and impact reporting.
Through its innovative tools and data-driven approaches, ImpactSF provides solutions to de-risk investments, enabling innovative financing solutions aligned with net-zero goals and nature-positive outcomes. It also accelerates local agricultural small- and medium-enterprises (agri-SMEs) and cooperative growth, fostering high-impact, scalable opportunities.
To date, ImpactSF has supported over 190 agricultural enterprises, collaborated with over 10 banks on climate-smart financial products, and contributed to the design and implementation of funds targeting over $750 million USD in capital for sustainable investments. ImpactSF is catalyzing meaningful change by aligning financial goals with sustainability, creating resilient systems for the future. Join our partners to achieve lasting impact through science-based innovation.
Highlights
Agri-SMEs
Since 2021, accelerator and pipeline building programs have supported agri-SMEs like the Gender Smart Accelerator, Rwanda Adaptation Acceleration Programme, and Peru-Hub.
Impact Funds
Impact SF is influencing over USD $750m capital deployment through new fund design and implementation. Examples include the Climate Smart Food Systems Fund, Amazon Biodiversity Fund, Ag360 Fund, Finance for Agriculture SMEs in Africa Fund (FASA), and Tropical Resilience Fund (TREF).
Banks
The ImpactSF Analyzer is helping banks develop new credit products and initiatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia; including horticulture in Ethiopia, sustainable maize in the Philippines, and mixed aquaculture systems in Cambodia.
How We Drive Impact
We leverage data, innovation and partnerships to drive climate-smart, inclusive and impactful investments in agriculture, food and water systems.
Market Intelligence & Product Design
- Inform investment strategies with climate, biodiversity and gender insights
- Co-design innovative financial mechanisms
- Unlock investment opportunities leveraging CGIAR science
Pipeline Development & Acceleration
- Develop impact-focused pipelines for agri-SMEs
- Support climate-resilient and gender-responsive agri-SME acceleration programs
- Enhance Investment readiness support and capital matching with a climate adaptation lens
Risk Assessment & Impact Quantification
- Automate risk assessment
- Enhance loan screening with integrated climate analytics
- Ensure transparent and data-driven impact measurement and reporting
ImpactSF in Action
ImpactSF Data Products
ImpactSF Platform [coming soon]
ImpactSF Platform is a cost-effective reporting system that quantifies and tracks the impact of Agri-SME and farmer activities. Using science-based proxies, it measures impacts related to food security, nutrition, climate, environment and local livelihoods across various technologies and business models.
ImpactSF Analyzer
Merging CGIAR science and data with the power of AI to evaluate climate and environmental risks in agriculture, it provides tailored recommendations for climate adaptation investment strategies to catalyze transformation and protect crops, land and ecosystems.
Watch a short video about the ImpactSF Analyzer
Ag360 Climate Fund
Big Valley, in collaboration with Puro.earth and ImpactSF, has developed a $150M USD blended finance vehicle to drive circular bioeconomy solutions by valorizing agricultural waste through biochar production. Designed to enhance climate resilience across 60,000 hectares, the fund integrates a strong gender lens by prioritizing women-led SMEs, offering KPI-linked loans for gender-responsive businesses and providing targeted technical assistance for biochar adoption and regenerative agriculture. ImpactSF leads the fund’s scientific impact assessment, soil carbon analysis, MRV for carbon credit generation and the development of gender-smart investment strategies to ensure sustainable and inclusive agri-food investments.
Tropical Resilience Fund (TREF)
Impact Earth’s $100M USD Tropical Resilience Fund (TREF) expands from the Amazon Biome to the Tropical Belt, financing nature-positive businesses through revenue-based models. Building on the Amazon Biodiversity Fund’s success, TREF tackles biodiversity loss, climate resilience and rural livelihoods. As a key partner, ImpactSF integrates science-based impact measurement, ensuring that investments drive climate resilience, biodiversity conservation and transparency. Through data-driven insights, AI and annual impact reports, ImpactSF – as the main technical partner – enhances accountability, guiding sustainable, scalable solutions for food systems and landscapes.
Featured stories
Publications
Breakthrough Agenda Report: Agriculture
Leading sustainable finance conversations at the UNFCCC
COP29: Leveraging Science to Finance Solutions for Sustainable Food Systems
Rewatch ImpactSF experts and partners in this side event tackling how to close the finance gap for smallholder farmers and agri-SMEs.
Biodiversity COP16: Biodiversity and Business: Strategies for a Sustainable Future
Two initiatives were introduced:
- Amazon Biodiversity Fund (ABF) – A first-of-its-kind biodiversity impact fund
- TerraBio – A tool to assess and report climate and biodiversity risks in finance.
COP28: Pioneering evidence-based finance instruments for food systems transformation
This event explored innovative finance mechanisms co-designed by CGIAR, including the Climate Smart Food System Fund (CSFSF) and strategies for scaling and replicating impact-driven investment models, including in fragile contexts.
COP27: Science to shape a climate smart and nature-positive financial system
This session launched ImpactSF, presenting a science-based finance framework for measuring climate and environmental risks in food system investments.
Contact
| Godefroy Grosjean | [email protected] |
| Richard Newman | [email protected] |
The Team
Godefroy Grosjean
CGIAR Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF) Co-Lead
Richard Newman
CGIAR Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF) Co-Lead
Burra Dharani Dhar
Scientist, Data Products and Solutions Lead, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF)
Ena Derenoncourt
Senior Officer, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF)
Ciniro Costa Junior
Scientist
Wendy Francesconi
Senior Environmental Scientist
Peter Wamicwe
Investment professional
Luis Molina
Climate and Environmental Scientist
Samaa Mufti
Climate Smart Food Systems Specialist
Daniel Masika
Climate Resilient Food Systems Specialist
Natalia Matiz-Rubio
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist
Justine Umutoni
Research Associate
Sandra Patricia Loaiza Mera
Postdoctoral Fellow
Alessandro Sanzo
Data Engineering Officer, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF)
Martina Melchiori
Senior Impact Officer, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (Impact SF)
Yovita Ivanova
Senior Manager
Richard Omondi
AI Engineer, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (Impact SF)
Sadie Shelton
Communications Specialist, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (Impact SF)
Alishba Khan
Project Coordinator, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (Impact SF)
Jessica Koge
Senior Program (Research) Associate
Paul Njoroge
Cim Expert, CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF)
CGIAR Hub for Sustainable Finance (ImpactSF) is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
Partners and funding institutions
