Restoring America’s forest, landscapes, and rural economies.

New Leaf Climate Partners is a strategic investment and advisory firm. We move capital into the ecosystems, communities, and businesses that make nature-based climate change solutions possible. 

Trusted by:

The Rockefeller Foundation
U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
Arbor Day Foundation
American Forests
The Nature Conservancy
US Department of Agriculture

In restoration, every link depends on the next:

Forests need replanting, but nurseries that grow the seedlings are closing. Fuel needs clearing, but there's nowhere for the brush to go. Landowners want to restore their land, but they can't access the capital to do it.

These aren't separate problems, they're connected systems. And funding any single piece in isolation doesn't solve the whole. That's why we’re pioneering a different kind of financial structure.

Closeup of blue agave leaves in a sunlit field.

New Leaf is the first NDFI, or Nature-Based Development Financial Institution.

New Leaf works across the full value chain within an entire ecoregion, so the pieces actually hold together.

We're modelled on the Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) framework. CDFIs have successfully channeled capital into underserved communities for decades, transforming affordable housing and small business lending. 

We're applying the same proven infrastructure to the businesses, landowners, and communities driving nature-based climate restoration.

We work with foundations, non-profits, government agencies, corporations, and investors to:

  • A family of funds investing in the nurseries, businesses, landowners and communities that nature-based climate restoration depends on.

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  • Deal-level financial expertise for nature-based transactions that need specialized evaluation, structuring, and blended capital design.

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  • Rigorous research and market intelligence to ground your capital deployment in evidence.

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  • Hands-on partnership to design, build, and run programs that turn funded intent into ground-level outcomes.

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Where we're building:

Each region has its own ecosystem, restoration needs, and economic landscape. We tailor the NDFI model to meet each one where it is — from post-fire restoration in California to regenerative agriculture in the Northeast.

US map showing the seven ecoregions where New Leaf is engaged in restoration projects: California Northwest, Northern Great Plains, Midwest, Northeast, Ozarks, Southwest, and Georgia.

Featured work:

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Supporting Main Street: Strengthening the small businesses that hold our communities together
Supporting Main Street: Strengthening the small businesses that hold our communities together

Small businesses are the connective tissue of rural communities, but the people running them often can't access the capital, coaching, or sustainability planning they need. With Edward Jones, the Main Street Initiative delivers all three to the operators holding their towns together.

Forest Nursery Landscape Assessment
Forest Nursery Landscape Assessment

The US is short roughly a billion tree seedlings a year, and the supply chain is contracting just as demand surges. We visited operators across 20 states to map every nursery that matters — and designed the financing facility we think can change the trajectory.

Carbon Markets for Wildfire Mitigation
Carbon Markets for Wildfire Mitigation

Small landowners are responsible for a third of California's fuel reduction goal, but they're the least able to afford the upfront costs of treatment. We're piloting two new carbon-crediting approaches with 25 landowners across 2,000 high-burn-probability acres in Northern California.