Solution: Performance-based bond linked to ecological restoration and verified invasive alien plant clearing.

Key challenge: Conservation and ecosystem restoration are often seen as donor-dependent and hard to finance commercially.

Context: South Africa faces growing water insecurity; invasive alien plants reduce streamflow into dams, degrade ecosystems, and increase wildfire risk.

Solution in practice: FirstRand issued the R2.5 billion Cape Water Performance-Based Bond. The transaction linked investor returns to verified invasive alien plant clearing, while keeping bond financing separate from project funding and connecting them through a performance-based payment mechanism.

Impact / outcome: R2.5bn performance-based bond linking investor returns to verified invasive alien plant clearing.

Next steps: Relevant model for watershed-scale resilience and nature-based water-security financing.

Organizations involved:

Authoring: Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)

Actors: FirstRand

Implementation partners: Investors & Banks; Civil Society Organizations; Insurers; Regulators & Policymakers