Natural Capital work Complements Infrastructure Development AND Landmark greenfield, and brownfield sites

 Approach:

  • A 33,000-acre site and former Alcoa aluminum smelter and coal plant brownfield site is reimagined as a live-work-play space.

    My role: I first learned of the development incorporating the project into integrated marketing for the selling real estate broker. Later, I pitched a deep-dive feature that highlighted salient features and the onshoring of advanced manufacturing it represented. It won an editorial excellence award, too.

  • At University of Montana, I integrate work in energy, resources and land developments. Sandow Lakes is highlighted and the lens of natural capital.

  • From the statuesque Turkey Track Ranch to Sonoma Mountain [Ranch} Summit—over $200 million in land assets and 81,000 acres— I identify and communicate about land’s assets and the way in which people utilize them.

    Land Magazine, July 2022.

    Private commission that was used in a WSJ real estate media pitch and was featured.

Natural capital, accounting for the inherent value that nature offers, is an approach that aligns with nature’s assets and resources—in concert and in harmony.

It is context-specific, working with the unique attributes of land, energy resources or other types of nature-generated resources toward a purpose —such as a large-scale infrastructure project(s) of economic consequence.

My approach is studied and has foundational economic and physics theories connected. (See below.)

Natural capital is agnostic as to application but it requires absolute nature-first principles, reducing impact on Her assets.

Applications for specific projects

Identify opportunities to develop sustainable resource and capital approaches for projects;

Connect right expertise to develop landmark projects or re-develop projects for better future uses.

Offerings:

• Entrepreneurial approach and advisory;

• Economic due diligence;

• Network of developers, experts, doers, and thought leaders of the sustainable future;

• Globally-minded and connected;

• Natural capital and human capital awareness and “return” positive.

What is this Natural Capital Offering and where does it come from?

Select Endoresments…


 From D Magazine:

For more than a decade, we have been fortunate to have had Jennifer Warren lead our energy coverage. Jennifer is known not just regionally or nationally but globally for her expertise, which spans energy trends, and their economic and geopolitical implications, and resource sustainability issues.

From Distinguished Finance Professor Dr. Andrew Chen about Jennifer’s Role in Global Infrastructure Development Theory and Application

Using Capital Markets to Finance Infrastructure

 The work on the capital market-based approach to finance large-scale infrastructure development began when Jennifer asked if she could either use an idea from a working paper as a citation or join her in co-authoring for a 2005-06 World Bank essay competition about efforts that advance global development.

I joined in. After that, we applied the approach to India’s infrastructure development as the country needed private capital beyond the capacities of the government in Journal of Structured Finance (summer 2007). Jennifer saw how the theory could be applied to India’s situation. A Far Eastern Economic Review editor saw the academic paper and requested we write a policy-practitioner version, which became the 2008 cover story “Paving the Path: For India’s Growth.” We then applied it to China’s sustainable growth in The Chinese Economy (2011), and included more water infrastructure as it was emerging as a major concern. Jennifer had been researching water stress issues since 2003.

A book chapter then ensued also by editor request, “Targeting the Future: Smarter, Cleaner Infrastructure Development Choices,” for a climate change book in 2012; it offered ways to finance energy infrastructure and curb growing carbon emissions, particularly for the growth economies of India and China. In 2021, Real Leaders published a brief version of our combined ideas, as a way to boost the sustainably-oriented infrastructure that governments and economies want and need. Jennifer was always good in seeing the practical application of my theory.

Jennifer’s interest in sustainable resource development and addressing climate issues was a critical part of the work, as well as her ability to apply research to pressing global problems of the day. She is continuing to apply this work in her natural capital practice, alongside developments and advances in energy infrastructure. She is quite adept at seeing how to utilize capital markets and convey complex ideas to various stakeholder groups to further economic opportunity.

 —    Dr. Andrew Chen, September 2023