Ibex Earth was established in 2008 as a pro bono organisation that would provide free legal support to environmental charities and NGOs from some of the world's leading international law firms. We facilitated over £500,000 worth of legal advice and assistance before handing over our programme to Trust Law, a fantastic initiative operated by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We wanted to branch out and develop our own projects that could help instigate long-term, sustainable change for our planet.

 

So, we went to live on top of Mount Roraima in Venezuela for 8-weeks in 2010 to make a film about one of the most unique environments found on Earth (if you've seen the Disney Pixar film 'UP' you will know exactly where we have been). We discovered 9 species that were previously unknown to science and shared the experience with 12 university students and premiered the film at the Royal Geographical Society in London. The film was introduced by the legendary Michael Palin and had a record attendance! The project won the prestigious Captain Scott Society's 'Spirit of Adventure' Award and funding raised was donated to conservation efforts in the Guiana Highlands to address illegal mining and deforestation.

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Over the next decade we began building our network of cities and towns across the world to identify replicable solutions to common sustainability challenges faced by our urban landscapes. Our work shifted to developing sustainability strategies and supporting

applications that secured finance to deliver carbon reduction initiatives and climate adaptation programmes. We got very good at what we did, which saw us launch 'Creating Sustainable Cities' in 2019 to secure funding for organisations from the public, private, third and academic sectors to deliver projects that accelerated net zero investment, helped develop a circular economy and build climate resilience.

 

To date, we have secured our clients in excess of £50million worth of funding through a variety of grant programmes. Our aim for Creating Sustainable Cities was always to reach £100million - we are more than half way there. In 2023, we decided that our focus should move away from grant funding and instead explore how private finance should be deployed to fund regional and local net zero and climate targets. Finding pathways for private finance into the UK's cities and towns is the only way we are going to deliver the environmental, social and economic benefits that the sustainability agenda can deliver.

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Whilst we have shifted our funding approach to Creating Sustainable Cities, we still use our 15+ years worth of experience of working within the funding world to support projects that we feel passionate about - this is supporting schools on their sustainability journeys and working with innovators to launch new products and services that advance current state of the art and help meet growing consumer demand for eco-conscious goods.

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