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  “For many people, food comes from a supermarket and water comes from a tap. But the truth is, the food and water that sustain us come from grasslands, forests, rivers, and lakes that depend…

If you’ve been on a college campus lately (or received your annual alumni donation request letter), you know that colleges and universities are increasingly focused on “green” initiatives that improve sustainability and reduce campus-wide energy…

This post originally appeared on June 20, 2014 in GOVERNING Magazine Online. Written by Liz Farmer If Washington, D.C. is undertaking a project that will benefit – at minimum – the next three generations, then…

This summer, the Environmental Finance Center is taking its interest in how environmental projects are funded on the road through a three-week Applied International Environmental Finance program in Quito, Ecuador.  The EFC, in collaboration with TripleSalto –a…

The challenges associated with designing and implementing water conservation finance strategies are multifaceted. First, stakeholders must agree on the initial environmental problem and forge an agreement of action. Second, participants must identify who should pay…

Many government-owned wastewater systems in the United States are enterprise funds.  That is, they are business-like units within the overall government that should be self-sustaining, taking their revenue from the rates and fees charged to…

This is Part 2 of a 2 part blog post on utility financial risk. Part 1 focuses on utility revenue risk, and Part 2 focuses on utility debt risk. In our first blog post on…

To address the huge costs of stormwater management, communities across the nation are creating new programs to attract investment. But what are the key conditions and governing structure needed to encourage higher private investment in…