Case Studies

Foundation North has created the Gulf Innovation Fund Together (G.I.F.T) to help ignite innovative environmental solutions and kick-start projects that demonstrate the potential to deliver intergenerational benefit and wide impact in the Gulf.

Envirostrat received a grant from the G.I.F.T to investigate the feasibility of impact investment in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park in order to facilitate transition to a high value, low impact seafood sector.

Fisheries is emerging as an important growth sector for impact investment with the potential to generate significant change in fisheries, through a mix of private and public sector investment. Globally, impact investments in fisheries to date show potential to generate equity returns between 5% and 35%, (through increased value from sustainably caught fish, increased volumes linked to stock recoveries, supply chain efficiency, branding and marketing opportunities that result from improved fishing practices, etc).

Sea Change Tai Timu Tai Pari is the first marine spatial plan developed in New Zealand; it is non-statutory and non-binding with implementation largely dependent on the resources the partner agencies can make available. Impact investment could potentially generate relatively rapid change toward a higher value, low impact sustainable fishery in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park that benefits commercial, recreational and cultural users.  This project also considered the feasibility of options identified in Sea Change that could possibly be implemented through impact investment.

The Waipa catchment is a significant contributor to the sediment and nutrient load of the Waikato and Waipa River catchments. Waikato River Authority and Waikato Regional Council catalysed and funded a feasibility study to investigate whether impact investing could enable accelerated land use and/or land cover change to achieve multiple environmental and social benefits, whilst delivering a positive financial return. The project built on the environmental enhancement projects that have been identified and prioritised through the Waikato River and Waipa River Restoration Strategy and the priorities identified in the Waipa Catchment Plan and Healthy Rivers Plan Change. 

Traditional solutions to mitigate and improve ecosystem services on productive land (including soil conservation, biodiversity or water quality) are likely to be more cost-effective when land use, land capability and topography are aligned, when efforts are of sufficient scale, and / or when works incorporate the valuation of ecosystem services.  A faster rate for improvement of water quality and overall environmental performance is required in the face of climate change and continuing loss of biodiversity – which have a negative impact on services provided by ecosystems such as erosion control or water purification and therefore exacerbating the overall degradation.

A fundamental assumption of the work is that if land was to be acquired, or land use changed through impact investment, that it would be on a ‘willing buyer – willing seller’ basis. Landowners would not have to be involved if they were not supportive, and no actual properties have been identified through the feasibility study.

The project provided the foundation for due diligence for impact investment and enhances the capabilities and collaboration of policy makers, conservation-oriented organisations (including foundations and NGOs), business and financial institutions in supporting accelerated land use change. This will lead to maintaining and/or increasing ecosystem services at a landscape level (sub-catchment, catchment etc) alongside a financial business case for impact investment.

While focused in the Waipa catchment, we hope that the project insights will help build a blueprint for deploying impact investing to other parts of New Zealand when seeking viable solutions to climate change, biodiversity and water quality issues.

Envirostrat Managing Director Nigel Bradly was appointed as lead author for New Zealands first marine spatial plan.  Sea Change was a collaboratively developed, co-governance approach to integrated marine spatial planning using a co-governance approach with a partnership between commercial sectors, local tribes and regional and national government agencies. The focus was on spatial and strategic prioritisation for commercial fishing, new marine protected areas, water quality improvements, and aquaculture development opportunities alongside grassroots, community led initiatives to empower local communities and groups.

Envirostrat led a team of economists, scientists and social scientists with an overall budget of several million dollars developing a series of integrated economic and scientific models to assess the implications of different policy scenarios across a range of uses of fresh water. The role was highly complex and involved managing >35 contracts in excess of $2.5M in total. The programme was run in a series of joint ventures between local councils, sector groups and central government agencies (primary industries, environment, conservation), and linking science, policy, and economics with government decision making. The ability to synthesise multiple studies from different consultants into an aggregated series of recommendations was crucial for the success of the project and was at a scale that had not previously been attempted in NZ.

One of the initial priorities of the 2008 National Government following its election was the establishment of a new entity to provide for a more rapid and effective delivery of national significant resource consent proposals than had been occuring under the Resource Management Act.

• EnviroStrat was retained to project manage the Ministry for the Environment team establishing an Environmental Protection Authority within MfE
• Successful launch of the EPA occurred with all main requirements in place for day one of operation. Specifically, EnviroStrat
  • Created and implemented the plan of attack to ensure delivery to time, cost and quality requirements
  • Managed the internal team and vendors responsible for delivery of specific workstreams and tasks
  • Developed the long term operating model
  • Led inter-agency consultation
  • Prepared the organisational impact assessment, and transition plan for the EPA to business as usual

Meridian Energy was seeking to develop Project Aqua – what would have been the largest ever infrastructure development in New Zealand. This was a high profile and controversial initiative to create a six-dam hydro scheme on a canal parallel to the Waitaki River in the South Island of New Zealand.

• Retained to work between Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (TRONT), Meridian and its consultants to ensure cultural perspectives were taken into account when identifying and planning the mitigation measures for Project Aqua
  • Worked with TRONT staff and individual Rūnanga to identify the cultural concerns associated with Project Aqua through a Cultural Impact Assessment
  • Engaged and led a team of 12 consulting firms to review the scientific technical reports from a cultural perspective over a six month period
  • Jointly developed the mitigation measures with TRONT staff that would have resulted in Ngāi Tahu signing off on the project

Task

EnviroStrat led the Program to prepare USPG as a start-up to acquire and run 3 power stations in New York with a combined value of $1B, and generating capacity of approximately 25% of New York’s power supply (over 2,000MW).

Results

• Developed and managed the overall programme, engaging multiple vendors, identifying transition needs and managing the expectations of private equity investors
• Successfully led the organisational transformation programme to manage the transition to private equity ownership
• No issues occurred to prevent the successful close and transition
• Engaged a team of 20+ consultants across the business; all delivered to time, cost and scope
• In less than 6 months, the team built an entire corporate infrastructure (created HR, IT, Finance & Accounting, Commercial, and Operations & Engineering functions) in parallel to the transition (when USPG bid for the assets it was a team of 5, and following successful transition was over 150 strong)