FROM THE FOUNDER
Why I Created Ecolence
I saw an investment market growing rapidly—but without a central place to discover it.
John E. Collins Jr.
Founder, Ecolence
The Opportunity Was There. The Marketplace Wasn't.
Environmental and sustainable investing has evolved far beyond a niche investment category. Today, opportunities can be found across renewable energy, farmland, water, forestry, carbon markets, biodiversity, environmental infrastructure, climate technology and many other areas of the economy.
But as I spent more time looking across this investment landscape, I kept coming back to the same problem: there was no single destination where investors could easily discover the breadth of environmental investment opportunities available to them.
The opportunities existed. The sponsors existed. The investors were increasingly interested. But the marketplace remained fragmented.
A farmland investment might be found on one sponsor’s website. A renewable-energy project somewhere else. A private environmental fund through another manager. Climate technology opportunities might exist within venture networks, while natural-capital investments could be presented through entirely different channels.
For an investor interested specifically in environmental and impact opportunities, discovering what was available often meant knowing where to look before beginning the search.
That is the problem Ecolence was created to solve.
THE IDEA
What if environmental investing had its own marketplace?
I began thinking about what a platform designed specifically around environmental investment could look like.
Instead of investors searching across dozens of websites, sponsors, funds and databases, what if opportunities across the environmental economy could be discovered in one place?
What if an investor interested in farmland could also discover water infrastructure, renewable energy, forestry, biodiversity, carbon markets or emerging environmental technologies?
And what if those fundamentally different investments could be presented using a consistent framework—making it easier to understand what each opportunity is, how it works, what it seeks to accomplish and what risks should be considered?
That idea became Ecolence.
THE NEXT QUESTION
Finding Investments Was Only Half the Problem.
Bringing opportunities together was the first step. But simply creating a large directory would not solve another problem I saw: every investment presents information differently.
Investors can spend significant time moving between presentations, websites and offering documents just to identify basic information.
That’s why Ecolence is being built around something equally important—consistency.
Through the Ecolence Standard, investment opportunities can be organized around a common information framework while remaining fundamentally independent and unique.
The objective isn’t to tell investors which opportunity is better. It’s to make the information they need easier to find.
THE VISION
Building the Destination I Couldn't Find
My vision for Ecolence is straightforward: build the destination I believed should already exist.
A marketplace dedicated to environmental and impact investment. A place where investors can explore opportunities across sectors and sponsors. A platform where investment organizations can present what they are building to an audience specifically interested in this part of the economy.
I believe environmental investing will continue to expand across asset classes, technologies and geographies. As it does, investors will need better ways to discover and understand the opportunities being created.
My goal is for Ecolence to become that place.
John E. Collins Jr.
Founder, Ecolence
BUILT THROUGH COLLABORATION
A Platform Designed to Bring an Industry Together
Ecolence is being built around an ecosystem of investment sponsors, environmental innovators, investors, service providers, technology organizations and industry professionals.
As the platform grows, so will the network of people and organizations contributing to its development and the environmental investment marketplace it serves.
WELCOME TO ECOLENCE
We're Building the Marketplace for Environmental Investment.
Whether you’re an investor searching for opportunities, a sponsor bringing an environmental investment to market, or an organization helping advance the environmental economy, we invite you to explore what Ecolence is building.