MSSH joins forces with eco.business Fund to conserve biodiversity in Latin America and Caribbean

The eco.business Fund has received a new investment from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSSH). The not for profit organization’s contribution to the eco.business Fund’s sub-fund in Latin America and the Caribbean aims to support the fund’s mission to promote business and consumption practices that make a positive difference for the environment by conserving biodiversity, supporting the sustainable use of natural resources, and mitigating the effects of climate change. 

Founded in 1880 by Mother Cabrini, MSSH is an international congregation of Catholic women focused on serving the world’s most vulnerable populations. One of the ways the organization pursues this mission is through their impact investment portfolio, which aims to create positive social and environmental outcomes in service of people and planet. MSSH is also signatory of the Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative (CIIC) pledge which calls on other Catholic asset owners to pursue impact investments. 

Chairperson of the eco.business Fund Board, Dr. Jens Mackensen, said: “This new investment by MSSH is a sign of trust in our successful track record and our resolution to create tangible, positive impact. Not only will it allow us to further expand financing to fortify and increase biodiversity-friendly business and consumption practices, but also demonstrates the fund’s ability to attract capital from private investors.”

MSSH, said: “Our investment is inspired by the words of Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’, ‘I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.’ We believe using our financial resources to combat climate change is not only a smart investment strategy, but that it also contributes to this new dialogue about shaping our future planet.“
 

About the eco.business Fund

The eco.business Fund aims to promote business and consumption practices that contribute to biodiversity conservation, to the sustainable use of natural resources, and to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts. By providing financing for business practices that conserve nature and foster biodiversity, the fund seeks investments with both environmental and financial returns. The fund mainly provides loans to qualified financial institutions that on-lend the money to eligible borrowers, which include holders of recognized certifications or those making improvements in line with conservation and biodiversity goals. The fund supports sustainable operations in the sectors of agriculture, fishery (including aquaculture), forestry and tourism. 

The eco.business Fund was initiated by Germany’s KfW Development Bank and Conservation International with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It has received further donor support from the European Commission. The fund’s additional investor base comprises the U.K. government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Dutch development bank FMO, Austrian development bank OeEB, IDB Invest, and institutional investors such as sustainable banking institution ASN Bank, German ethical bank GLS Bank, Calvert Impact Capital, and Raiffeisen Bank International. Finance in Motion, a leading impact investing company, is also an investor.

Operating hand-in-hand with the eco.business Fund, the eco.business Development Facility provides high-impact technical assistance to financial institutions and final borrowers.

For more information please visit www.ecobusiness.fund and follow us on Twitter @ecobusinessfund.

About Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

About the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus:  The Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSSH) is an international mission-driven and faith-based congregation of Catholic women present on six continents and in seventeen countries of the world.  Founded by Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in 1880 with the purpose to be bearers of Christ’s love in the world, MSSH commit our entire lives, energies, talents and time to bringing the reign of God’s love, compassion, and reconciliation wherever we live and minister. MSSH and co-sponsors in mission today are actively ministering in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, England and Russia, the South Sudan and Australia. In these countries, they strive to carry out the mission and charism of Mother Cabrini who continues to inspire for evangelization, education, health care, working with the poor and underprivileged, with people of all colors, nationalities and language, in developed and developing nations. They seek to respond to the local needs of the world’s most vulnerable, including children, youth, women, refugees and immigrants and the elders. They collaborate actively with the dedicated laity who serve with them.

For more information visit our website at cabriniworld.org, follow us on Twitter at @WorldCabrini or Instagram at @cabriniworld.
 

Media contact eco.business Fund
Merle Römer
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Email: press@ecobusiness.fund
Tel: +49 (0)69 / 271 035-171

Media contact Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
For impact investing inquiries, please contact:
Kayoko Lyons
Director of Impact Investing
Email: klyons@cabriniimpact.org

For media inquiries, please contact:
Tatiana Paradiso
Communications Coordinator
Email: communciations@cabriniworld.org