The Fourth Cohort of the Outcomes Accelerator on Forests and Nature Announced at the 2026 OFA Summit

The Governing Committee and the Secretariat of the Outcomes Accelerator are thrilled to announce the Fourth Cohort of the Outcomes Accelerator, marking a major step forward in applying outcomes-based financing (OBF) to forests and nature.

This cohort is among the most competitive to date, drawing almost 400 expressions of interest from over 90 countries — a testament to the growing global demand for OBF and its application to nature and climate challenges.

The 11 selected initiatives not only demonstrate strong technical design and alignment with national priorities, but also reflect a broader shift in how forests are financed. Across the portfolio, projects deploy a diverse range of instruments, including outcome funds, outcomes bonds, impact bonds, and pay-for-results contracts, while integrating carbon, biodiversity, and social outcomes into more holistic financing approaches. They highlight growing engagement from private sector partners and the increasing potential to mobilize capital at scale for verified nature outcomes.

Following a rigorous assessment process, these initiatives were selected for their innovation, feasibility, and ability to move beyond traditional grant-based models. Collectively, they  reflect a growing recognition that forests are central to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, water security, and livelihoods — and yet remain significantly underfunded relative to their importance.

Why Forests, Why Now

Forests sit at the intersection of climate, biodiversity, and human development. They store vast amounts of carbon, sustain biodiversity, regulate water systems, and support the livelihoods of millions, particularly Indigenous and forest-dependent communities.

Yet financing for forests remains fragmented, short-term, and insufficient relative to  the scale of the challenge. There is a growing need for approaches that link funding directly to verified, long-term outcomes, ensuring that resources are tied to real, measurable impact.

Since its launch, the Outcomes Accelerator, a flagship initiative of the Outcomes Finance Alliance (OFA), has supported the development of OBF solutions that link funding directly to measurable results. Building on this momentum, the Accelerator is now applying OBF to forests and nature, an area where traditional funding approaches have faced challenges  to deliver long-term, measurable impact at scale.

A Diverse Portfolio of Projects

The Fourth Cohort will support 11 projects across critical tropical forest biomes – including the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia –  as well as in key landscapes where production and supply chains intersect with forest conservation.  

Across the portfolio of projects, three clear priorities stand out:

• Protecting and restoring critical forest ecosystems. Projects  include biodiversity corridor restoration, conservation finance models, Indigenous-led forest protection, jurisdictional approaches and landscape-scale conservation models, reflecting the need for coordinated, system-level interventions.
• Expanding nature finance beyond carbon. Several initiatives also demonstrate how financing approaches are evolving beyond carbon to include biodiversity outcomes and innovative models linking forest conservation with water security.
• Transforming land use, particularly across agriculture and within supply chains. Several projects aim to shift agricultural systems toward regenerative practices and link corporate supply chains directly to forest conservation outcomes.

We are pleased to announce the following winning projects:

1. Biodiversity Credits and Green Finance for Forest Conservation and Livelihoods (Peru): Conservation Strategy Fund is developing a model to generate biodiversity credits and channel green finance toward forest conservation, while improving livelihoods in the Tahuamanu region.
2. Cauca Valley Restoration & Biodiversity Outcomes (Colombia): Asociación de Cultivadores de Caña de Azúcar de Colombia (Asocaña) is designing an outcomes fund to support large-scale restoration, delivering biodiversity, carbon, and flood resilience outcomes in one of Colombia’s key production landscapes.
3. Cocoa Resilience & Forest Outcomes Bond (Côte d’Ivoire): Finance Earth is developing an outcomes bond to support sustainable cocoa production, strengthening farmer resilience while reducing pressure on forests.
4. Fashion and Fibre Collective for Sustainable Supply Chains and Forest Conservation (Indonesia): Lestari Capital is establishing a landscape-scale model that connects corporate supply chains to forest conservation outcomes, mobilizing private sector finance for long-term protection.
5. Freshwater Resilience Impact Bond (Multi-country: Indonesia, India, South Africa): Conservation International is structuring an impact bond to finance nature-based solutions that link forest conservation with water security across multiple countries.
6. Inclusive Ecological Recovery in the Atlantic Forest–Caatinga Corridor (Brazil): Panthera is designing an outcomes-based mechanism to restore and reconnect critical biodiversity corridors, while supporting inclusive, community-driven models for long-term ecological recovery.
7. Indigenous-Led High-Integrity Forest (HIFOR) Outcomes Bond (Colombia): Wildlife Conservation Society is structuring an outcomes bond to finance Indigenous-led protection of high-integrity forests in the Colombian Amazon, ensuring long-term conservation and community stewardship.
8. Jurisdictional REDD+ with Gender Outcomes (Democratic Republic of the Congo): Terra Global is designing a jurisdictional REDD+ mechanism that links carbon and gender outcomes, supporting forest protection at scale while delivering benefits to women and local communities.
9. Reconnect Borneo Climate Facility (Malaysia / Indonesia): WWF Malaysia is establishing a facility that links corporate supply chains to forest conservation outcomes, enabling companies to invest directly in protecting and restoring forests in the Borneo region.
10. Regenerative Cattle & Agroforestry Transition (Brazil): Rio Capim and Belterra are designing an outcomes-based model to transition cattle systems toward regenerative and agroforestry practices, reducing deforestation while improving productivity and livelihoods.
11. Sierra del Divisor Conservation Finance Mechanism (Peru): Fronterra is developing a government-linked, pay-for-results mechanism to finance conservation of one of Peru’s most important forest landscapes, strengthening protection while supporting local livelihoods.

Looking Ahead: Innovative Financing for Nature

The launch of the Fourth Cohort signals an important shift: from viewing forests as a niche area of climate finance to recognizing them as central to delivering integrated outcomes across climate, biodiversity, and development. As momentum builds, this cohort demonstrates both progress and possibility, demonstrating how innovative financing can help deliver better outcomes for people, nature, and the planet.

We warmly welcome the new cohort members and look forward to supporting their efforts as they develop and implement these innovative approaches.

Stay tuned for more updates on the Fourth Cohort as these exciting projects progress toward implementation.

About the Outcomes Accelerator

The Outcomes Accelerator is a global initiative to accelerate more effective testing, scaling, and mainstreaming of outcomes-based financing approaches in the delivery of SDG impact. It offers flexible funding, targeted expertise, and networking to enable outcomes-based financing projects to launch. At the policy level, the Accelerator aims to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of development spending from the public and private sectors, to ultimately achieve the objectives of the SDGs. All proposals are competitively assessed against pre-defined evaluation and eligibility criteria that can be found here.

To learn more about the Outcomes Accelerator and our growing global community, visit outcomesaccelerator.org.

The Governing Committee of the Outcomes Accelerator is comprised by its funders, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the UBS Optimus Foundation and the UK Government (including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO] and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero [DESNZ]), who are supported by Levoca LLC as the Secretariat.