Independent Carbon Finance Advisory
Many credible emission reduction and removal projects struggle to access the capital needed to finance their development and ongoing operations, not because they lack the requisite environmental integrity, but because they lack the financial architecture that institutional capital requires.
SusCap Advisors was founded to close that gap. We apply conventional investment banking and asset management discipline to the technical and operational needs of carbon project finance to make projects bankable and investible.
30+
Years of investment banking and asset management experience per partner, at institutions including Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, and Credit Suisse
$13B+
In financing transactions and institutional capital raised across partners' combined careers
7+
Years of carbon market experience per partner, covering project commercial and financial management, institutional investing, and market analytics
Carbon projects need to sit at the intersection of two worlds that rarely understand each other's analytical framework or even speak the same language: climate science and institutional capital. Lenders and investors lack the carbon market fluency to structure credible transactions. Carbon specialists lack the financial toolkit to make projects bankable. SusCap was built to close that gap.
Truly Independent
We act solely in the interest of project developers and sponsors. Our advice is unconstrained by conflicts of interest with financing counterparties.
Institutional Finance Discipline
SusCap partners have executed transactions across asset classes and at every layer of the capital stack (e.g., equity, debt and equity-linked securities) at major financial institutions including Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and several prominent hedge funds.
Carbon Market Fluency
Beyond finance, we bring years of direct operating experience in carbon markets, including managing one of the world's largest ARR projects, investing in compliance and voluntary carbon markets on behalf of pension funds, and leading carbon credit market analytics at MSCI Carbon Markets.
Blended Finance Focus
Most carbon projects require a combination of commercial and concessional capital. Structuring transactions that align project risk with the underwriting requirements of each source of capital is what turns stranded deals into financeable ones.
Proven at Scale with Global Reach
SusCap partners have collectively raised and structured over $13 billion in transactions with institutional investors in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. We provide direct access to principal sources of project finance and climate capital with offices in London and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The carbon credit market has made significant progress on environmental integrity: the science of what projects do and how to measure their impact has never been more rigorous. What has not kept pace is the mobilization of capital. Many high-quality emission reduction and removal projects remain chronically underfunded. While lender and investor appetite exists, the financial structures required to satisfy institutional underwriting standards have been slow to develop.
SusCap Advisors was founded to address this gap. We translate technically credible projects into bankable cash flows and investible assets, building the financial architecture that allows project developers to access commercial capital, rather than remaining dependent on their own capital, philanthropic funding and a fragmented and inefficient market for spot carbon credit sales.
Our approach is grounded in established corporate finance methods: rigorous financial modelling, disciplined risk analysis, and structured transactions tailored to the objectives of both developers and their capital providers. A particular focus is blended finance, combining concessional and catalytic financing to unlock deeper pools of institutional capital.
We work alongside project developers and sponsors at every stage of the financing process, from initial feasibility assessment and creating a financing strategy through to financial close and ongoing investor relations. Our role is to build and manage the financial process so developers can focus on building and operating projects.
Financial Analysis
Integrate technical and operating plans into robust financial models to analyse financial viability, e.g. free cash flow, valuation, debt capacity, IRR, payback, downside scenarios, etc.
Capital Strategy
Define and evaluate funding paths across the capital stack (e.g., grants, concessional funding, debt, equity, carbon transactions, and hybrid instruments) based on project lifecycle, risk profile, and developer objectives.
Risk Management
Identify and quantify commercial, financial, and market risks. Develop risk mitigation and transfer solutions including insurance, guarantees, contractual risk allocation, and hedging strategies for interest rate, currency, and carbon price exposures.
Capital Sourcing
Identify and engage financing sources (e.g., commercial lenders, development finance institutions, impact investors, carbon credit buyers, philanthropic capital, etc.), aligned with the project's risk and return profile.
Transaction Structuring
Design offtake, prepurchase, debt, equity, and blended finance solutions tailored to project economics, financial capacity, and counterparty underwriting requirements.
Transaction Documentation
Prepare institutional-quality pitch books, investment memoranda, term sheets, financial models, due diligence packages, and data rooms.
Negotiation Support
Support negotiation of principal transaction agreements from term sheet through financial close, covering commercial arrangements, risk allocation, and structural provisions.
Investor & Lender Relations
Provide ongoing support in managing investor, carbon buyer, and lender relationships.
Practitioners grounded in corporate finance and financial markets with deep carbon market experience.
Charlotte, North Carolina
Three decades of investment banking experience across infrastructure finance, project finance, and M&A, totalling over 60 transactions worth $6.6 billion, combined with a senior operating and investment role at one of the world's leading carbon forestry projects.
BA, American History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MBA, Columbia Business School
Carbon Markets
John was previously Chief Investment Officer of ACRE Investments and continues to serve the firm as an executive consultant. ACRE Investments owns and operates GreenTrees, the world's largest and longest-running afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) project. He was also President of ACRE.IO, an integrated asset management platform that optimizes natural capital across carbon, water quality and storage, soil health, and biodiversity. In these roles, John positioned GreenTrees for investment and debt financing; engaged with carbon credit ratings firms; led carbon credit marketing and sales, executing over $30 million in structured carbon credit transactions; and managed a digital transformation of the project's MRV, risk management, and co-benefits quantification systems.
Finance & Investment
John has substantial financial structuring experience, executing a wide range of transactions totalling over $6.6 billion over his career, including infrastructure and transportation asset-based finance at Bank of America, project finance for independent power producers at Credit Suisse, and mergers for small- and medium-sized enterprises — particularly in the agricultural technology market — at McColl Partners (subsequently acquired by Deloitte Corporate Finance) and Fennebresque & Co. He has also worked on private equity investments for a family office with governance experience as a board member for several firms.
London, England
Over 30 years in investment banking and asset management experience, including senior roles at Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, and several prominent hedge funds, combined with seven years of substantive carbon market experience, most recently as Head of Carbon Market Analytics at MSCI Carbon Markets.
BA, Economics, University of Connecticut
MBA, NYU Stern School of Business
International Management Certificate, NYU / London Business School / HEC Paris
Carbon Markets
As Head of Carbon Market Analytics at MSCI Carbon Markets (formerly Trove Research), Peter led research on carbon credit pricing and transactions; produced recurring and bespoke market analyses; advised clients on market developments; and conducted project-level analysis to support client investment decisions. Before MSCI, he co-founded an asset management firm where he built a platform for several pension funds to invest in compliance and voluntary carbon markets. As Co-Chief Investment Officer, he carried out research and due diligence, structured and executed transactions, and managed portfolio risk.
Finance & Investment
Earlier in his career, Peter developed extensive technical skills structuring and negotiating complex financial transactions. At Citigroup, he worked in the investment bank, the CFO's office, and the asset management business, executing exchange-traded and counterparty derivatives (futures, forwards, swaps, and options) across asset classes, and global capital markets transactions involving debt, equity, and equity-linked securities. At Lehman Brothers, he invested proprietary capital in minority equity stakes and contributed to the successful IPO of a Lehman private equity vehicle. Peter has raised approximately $6.9 billion for alternative investment vehicles from institutional investors globally over his career.
We welcome enquiries from project developers, sponsors, and capital providers.