News

Earlier this year, Durrell, together with Jersey Finance, launched the ‘Fund for a Wilder World’, a new initiative aimed at protecting wildlife and rewilding ecosystems across the globe.

The fund was officially launched at Jersey Finance’s Annual Review in January, with the objective of effecting positive change on the restoration of global ecosystems, and is designed to give financial services firms in Jersey the opportunity to contribute a portion of their fees earned from sustainable finance workflows to a pooled central pot. 

Contributing to the fund is voluntary, and is initially open to fund service providers, including administrators, law firms and accountancy firms, with the intention to ultimately open the fund up to a wider cross section of Jersey’s finance industry. 

The scheme is being overseen and managed by Durrell, with onward investment of capital in the fund being made towards the Trust’s vital work reviving, restoring and rewilding diverse habitats around the world, from Jersey and the UK to Mauritius and India. 

Durrell will monitor, evaluate, and provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the investment. Durrell’s CEO, Dr Lesley Dickie, said, “Through our ‘Rewild Our World’ initiative, we have set our sights on delivering significant change to the fortunes of threatened wildlife through a positive and bold vision for conservation. By bringing together our own knowledge and experience of global conservation with the international expertise of Jersey’s financial services industry, this fund can play an important role in realising our long-term goals.” 

The launch of the fund forms part of Jersey’s wider objective of positioning itself as a global centre of excellence for sustainable finance, with Jersey Finance shortly due to set out a long-term vision and strategy for the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space.  

Joe Moynihan, CEO of Jersey Finance, added, “The launch of this innovative scheme sends a clear message that Jersey is committed to the ESG agenda and to supporting global investment aimed at driving positive change, at a time when there is renewed vigour and accelerated progress in all areas of sustainable finance. I’m particularly pleased to be working with Durrell, which has such strong roots in Jersey but expertise and a reputation that extends right around the world, and to have already had such strong support from firms here in Jersey. This fund provides a fantastic opportunity for firms in Jersey to make a combined, clear and positive difference to natural environments around the world.”

This new sustainable finance initiative has been established as a joint project between Durrell, Jersey Finance, industry, government, and Jersey Overseas Aid.