Capital Catalyst
Climate Finance & Impact Investment
Engineering the funding pathways for climate impact
WHY IT MATTERS
Climate solutions are advancing faster than the financing structures that should support them. Many organizations face fragmented funding options, shifting policies, and limited internal capacity to structure investable opportunities. As a result, strong climate strategies often stall before they can attract the capital they need.
OUR APPROACH
CapitalCatalyst is a financing design and implementation offering focused on environmental and climate markets. We work with clients to turn concepts into investable structures, leveraging tools such as impact finance, program‑related investments, green bonds, and agency financing.
We design and implement financing solutions that draw from global Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) programs and a growing ecosystem services landscape, helping clients connect to relevant pools of capital. By aligning financial models with investor mandates and diverse capital sources, we help clients raise capital and meet their climate goals.
Key Components:
TRARO®
A proprietary screening and scoring framework assessing seven key elements, from community engagement to impact
measurement, to evaluate whether a project is ready for commercialization
Capital Structure Design
Design financing mechanisms, from impact funds and green bonds to blended finance structures, tailored to specific climate objectives.
Pipeline and Due Diligence
Build and vet investment pipelines through structured due diligence, ensuring alignment with both impact and financial criteria.
Carbon and Policy Integration
Incorporate carbon markets, pricing signals, and policy trends into fundraising strategies and investment decisions.
TRARO®
TRARO® is a research-backed platform for screening and scoring climate investment opportunities with efficiency and precision. Built on a tested seven-element framework it is a concise, standardized methodology. Proponents respond to a curated set of questions and the system produces a 60-point TRARO® Scorecard that quantifies overall investment readiness.
CASE STUDIES
CLIENTS
CapitalCatalyst supports public, private, and mission‑driven organizations seeking to mobilize capital into credible environmental and climate outcomes.
TESTIMONIALS
We value the feedback of clients and partners who have used CapitalCatalyst to advance their financing strategies. Their testimonials highlight what it means to have a structured path from ideas to funded vehicles and programs.
Gordian Knot Strategies’ work on the financial model for our program allowed us for the first time to chart a viable course to implement and scale the program. Before working with you, we had a good idea with no way to implement. Now we have a much more concrete road map.
Nathan Truitt – Executive Vice President of Climate Funding
American Forest Foundation
In addition to the obvious expertise in building a financially sustainable impact program, the thing I enjoy most about working with the GKS team is the opportunity for constant learning and growth–all offered with the utmost respect and patience to every individual at every level of our organization.
Christine Cadigan – Executive Vice President, Carbon Origination
American Forest Foundation
The engagement with Gordian Knot Strategies was professional, well organized and incredibly valuable. The knowledge we gained during the engagement moved us leaps ahead of where we were prior to the engagement. We feel significantly more prepared to move our project forward and will be trying to find a way to remain engaged with GKS as we move forward.
Jim Snyder – Chief Financial Officer
Savory Institute
GKS synthesized the views of many stakeholders, results of discussions and market sentiment to provide a succinct roadmap tailored to our capabilities.
Dee Lawrence – Co-Founder & Director
High Tide Foundation
Sean has been a go-to, trusted advisor to my team for many years on climate finance. His experience across multiple sectors helps us gain a better perspective on the progress we are trying to make. Sean’s guidance has helped my team improve our skills and understanding of blended finance, which allows us to better support our partners and get to our desired impact faster and more effectively.
Maggie Monast - Senior Director, Climate-Smart Agriculture
Environmental Defense Fund
Utilizing GKS kept our process moving, helped us focus on key items and freed us up to really evaluate opportunities.
Joie Moré – Chief Financial Office
US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
GKS helped us create a disciplined process, with rigorous analysis and structured decision making, that ultimately supported a new approach to strategy setting. We don’t just feel ready to launch this next phase of our work, we have a new strategic planning template for our entire organization.
Sacha Spector – Program Director for the Environment
Doris Duke Foundation
Gordian Knot Strategies are my ‘go to’ experts for anything related to carbon offsets/ the voluntary carbon market and strategy development around that. They are extremely knowledgeable on both the policy- and technical side of things. They are very context sensitive and take the time to really listen to our needs and challenges. They deliver on time and on budget, communicate super clearly and are over all a great pleasure to work with!
Kirsten Hund - Director, Climate & Nature
Vale Base Metals
It has been an immense pleasure to work with the GKS team: they are incredibly knowledgeable, comprehensive and, importantly, have always been able to explain complex climate topics to our team in an approachable way. The strategy development work GKS has done for us will serve us well as we work toward meeting our climate targets.
Ruby Stocklin-Weinberg – Carbon Neutrality Specialist
De Beers Group
Thank you GKS again for your informative and engaging presentation. We couldn’t have done it without all your help. We also wanted to relay that many Task Force members followed up with us to share that they really enjoyed your talk.
Caroline Normile, PhD – Senior Policy Analyst, Energy Project
Bipartisan Policy Center
GKS is thorough and exacting in their thinking and work. They make sure they understand our needs and goals, touch base while they are doing the work, and provide ample opportunity for feedback and course correction.
Peter Stangel – Senior Vice President
US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
GKS listens well. They know the carbon and impact investment space and bring much added expertise for us. You challenge us to think outside the box and use a well thought out process to tackle ideas. You are very well networked and those connections help you to see spaces that we have not even considered.
Alicia Cramer – Sr. Vice President
US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
What GKS did particularly well is to help us craft ideas ahead of when they’ll be needed. Understanding the needs of potential investors/clients before they do is valuable.
Mike Smith
RenewWest
Gordian Knot Strategies helped us launch our impact investing program. They provide high-quality analysis and leadership that allowed us to develop a program that reflected our values and needs and that was informed by superior research and diligence from GKS
Peter Stangel - Chief Development Officer
US Endowment for Forestry and Communities
Helping RenewWest determine what to prioritize and focus on has allowed many other doors to open. Sean helps reduce the clutter and makes good connections.
John Cleland – CEO
RenewWest
It was an absolute pleasure to work with Sean and the whole GKS on this project. The GKS reports were of very high quality and fully comprehensive.
Henry Rowlands – CEO
Soil In Formation
The engagement with Gordian Knot Strategies was very helpful in focusing our execution on the tasks that are most important to launching our project.
Jeff Thiel – President & COO
Vitidore
Gordian Knot Strategies exceeded expectations in all aspects of our engagement – experience, judgment, intelligence, diligence, and efficiency. GKS brought all these and more to provide deliverables we never could have developed on our own.
Mark McPherson - Executive Director
City Forest Credits
It’s been fantastic working with GKS. The IFNF grant program has benefitted from GKS’ big-picture strategic thinking, and ability to connect strategy to less exciting but equally as important tactical decisions. Of the many positives, I’ve most appreciated GKS’ willingness to re-think assumptions, respond to group feedback and/or research takeaways, and adapt accordingly. They recognize the importance of problem identification, take time to vet assumptions with a range of experts, and are constantly brainstorming new ideas and connecting dots across sectors. GKS brought subject matter expertise, open and questioning minds, and intellectual enthusiasm for big questions and solutions to their work with the IFNF team – it was fun!
Nathalie Woolworth – Conservation Finance Program Manager
U. S Forest Service
IMPACT INVESTOR INFORMATION FORM
At Gordian Knot Strategies, we are fortunate to have strong global connections with both project developers and a wide array of impact investors. With our goal of mobilizing $1 billion per year by 2030, we’re committed to leveraging our network to help mobilize climate finance across the sector, from renewable energy and resilient infrastructure to conservation and environmental innovation.
As part of this effort, we are expanding our dynamic database of investors who are actively seeking to support high-impact climate and environmental projects that deliver returns. This resource is designed to facilitate the connection of aligned capital sources with project developers.
If your organization is interested in financing climate or environmental initiatives, we invite you to fill out the form below to be considered for inclusion in this investor database. Please note, your contact details will not be circulated or shared with the developer community. We will pass on any opportunities that match your interests. If there is an interest in any project, we will make the introductions. There is no fee for this service at this time.
Please click here to fill out the form.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
CapitalCatalyst helps close the gap between good ideas and investable structures that real investors can back at scale. If you are shaping a fund, facility, or program and need a clear, workable route to capital, we would be glad to explore what CapitalCatalyst can unlock with you.