Purpose
The Natural Resources Finance Initiative (NRFI) at Duke University was established in 2018 to provide national and global leadership in education, research, and service to renewable natural resources industries and natural resources conservation organizations around the world.
Vision
NFRI strives to become a recognized world leader in natural resources education programs centering on financial aspects of markets, business, conservation, and public policy related to natural resources management. NRFI aims to cultivate the talent pool in natural resources finance and intends to build a close relationship and partnership with the natural resources industries and conservation organizations.
Strategy
- Integrating sound natural resources business principles and practices with state-of-the-art financial methods to achieve sustainable, socially responsible, and innovative natural resources investment and management.
- Investigating the economic values of ecosystem services provided by natural resources to fully reveal their contributions to national and regional economies and evaluate the scope for monetization to incentivize resource owners to supply the services.
- Expanding the use of innovative and effective funding and financing strategies to improve natural resources management.
- Exploring the role of financial and other markets in promoting nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change.
Guidelines
- NRFI serves all those who own, invest in, manage, or conserve natural resources.
- NRFI expects challenges of exploring multifaceted aspects of natural resources and seeks options to utilize natural resources in a sustainable, socially responsible, and innovative way while maintaining reasonable financial returns.
- NRFI communicates its work to its stakeholders through publication and other mechanisms, keeping them informed about its achievements.
- NRFI collaborates with all academic divisions in the Nicholas School of the Environment and with selected other programs at Duke university (e.g., Duke Financial Economics Center, Fuqua School of Business, and Sanford School of Public Policy).
- NRFI connects closely with natural resources industries and conservation organizations to create intern opportunities and identify topics for Master’s Projects for NRFI students.