Outcomes-based finance (OBF) is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool to mobilize capital toward social and environmental priorities. But too often, these models prioritize short-term, easily quantifiable results, missing deeper ecological outcomes, long-term systems change, and the lived realities of Indigenous Peoples.
Today, we are pleased to launch a new thought leadership paper developed in collaboration with EY and the Ivey Sustainable Finance Lab that asks a different question: What becomes possible when outcomes-based finance is intentionally designed to center Indigenous leadership, ethical space, and Two-Eyed Seeing to heal the land?
Drawing on the experience from the Conservation Impact Bond (CIB), the paper explores how outcomes-based finance can advance both conservation outcomes and economic reconciliation; when Ethical Space and Two-Eyed Seeing are meaningfully embedded throughout design, implementation, and evaluation.
At the heart of the paper is a simple but profound shift: reconciliation is not an add-on to finance; it is foundational towards durable outcomes. Indigenous Peoples steward the majority of the world’s remaining biodiversity yet receive a fraction of global conservation and climate finance. Outcomes-based finance offers a pathway to rebalance this when it evolves beyond transactional models and embraces relational accountability, co-creation, and long-term stewardship.
The paper highlights:
- How ethical space creates the conditions for Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners to work together respectfully
- Why Two-Eyed Seeing strengthens outcomes design, measurement, and validation
- How blended qualitative and quantitative evaluation frameworks can meet investor rigor while honouring Indigenous knowledge systems
- Practical lessons from the Conservation Impact Bond on designing, validating, and scaling Indigenous-led nature-based solutions
Rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all model, the paper emphasizes that there is no single recipe. Each collaboration must be guided by Indigenous leadership, grounded in place, and built at the speed of trust.
This work is intended as both an invitation and a challenge to investors, governments, funders, and habitat stewards alike to rethink how capital is deployed to achieve climate-resilient healthy landscapes in the spirit and practice of Reconciliation.
We hope it contributes to a growing community of practice committed to aligning finance with healthy landscapes, Indigenous self-determination, and a more just and resilient future.
Read the report here.