A country warming at twice the average, facing 80% land degradation, yet home to some of the most precious ecosystems on Earth: that is Mongolia. Extreme climate stress has prompted an innovative financing solution, presented to the Forum by Nomindari Enkhtur, CEO of Mongolia’s Nature Legacy Foundation.

Mongolia is vast – 156 million hectares, larger than Germany, France and Spain combined – and home to some of the last remaining intact ecosystems on Earth, serving as major carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots. Its nomadic herders, still 30% of the population, have practised a resource-efficient, nature-positive way of life for centuries – “the kind of life we now want to build,” said Ms Enkhtur.

But the situation is deteriorating fast. More than half its permafrost has been lost, climate events are growing more frequent and intense, and in 2025 winter storms killed 7 million livestock – around 12% of the total. This has forced herders off the land and into the capital, Ulaanbaatar: the coal they burn in informal settlements has made it one of the world’s most polluted capital cities.

“All this creates a health crisis, economic crisis, supply chain disruptions and more. In Mongolia, we are living climate change on a daily basis, and everyone is feeling it,” said Ms Enkhtur.

A $200 million fully integrated financing solution

Faced with these pressures, Mongolia has developed the Eternal Mongolia Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiative. All stakeholders – government, donors, and private sector – come together, agree on conservation targets (including the 30×30 goal), and commit their funding in a single long-term deal. Mongolia’s PFP is a $200 million, 15-year initiative: $71 million from donors and philanthropy, $129 million from government and public sources. Tools include results-based public budgeting, environmental taxes, conservation levies, and market-based mechanisms such as green loans, biodiversity credits and carbon credits.

“No single financing source alone can tackle this issue,” Ms Enkhtur said. The PFP’s power lies in combining public, private and philanthropic funding towards the same goal – “the only way to move forward is to work together.”

She gave two examples of PFP in action: a complementary sustainability-linked loan scheme which targets the agriculture sector directly, and a digital impact verification system.

Major lessons from Mongolia’s experience

How did they achieve alignment, asked Mark Titterington. Initially a purely market-based initiative, one key lesson was to involve government earlier: the private sector alone cannot sustain the transition indefinitely; policy signals, public incentives and a mandated longer-term vision are essential. “I know there’s urgency, but it’s also critical that we really recognize the importance of permanence, consistency, and patience,” she said.

How important is verification? “At the core of everything,” said Ms Enkhtur – crucial to demonstrate outcomes whatever the funding source. “Whenever there is a financing discussion, we need to think backwards: start with what impact, what outcome, what are we going to achieve, and then link your financing system from there.”