---
title: the forest beside the climate sleeve
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/the-forest-beside-the-climate-sleeve
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/the-forest-beside-the-climate-sleeve.md
subtitle: the private-markets book can fund the grid. the city still drinks a forest
category: nature-finance
---

# the forest beside the climate sleeve

*the private-markets book can fund the grid. the city still drinks a forest*

Private markets climate investments, as Comptroller Mark Levine described them on September 23, 2026, are private-market stakes in climate infrastructure. The list is renewable power generation, grid modernization, energy efficiency and storage, clean transportation, and building decarbonization, plus technologies that can reduce pollution, strengthen energy and water security, and improve resilience to extreme weather.

In his first Climate Week as New York City Comptroller, Mark Levine announced a recommendation: the Bureau of Asset Management expects to present $5 billion in new private-market climate opportunities to the boards of the New York City Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS), and the Board of Education Retirement System (BERS). Each board still has to approve what it is shown. The five billion is a recommendation. The allocation is not closed.

Earlier in 2026, NYCERS, TRS, and BERS committed $116 million to Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II. The Comptroller's office called that the first private-markets climate investment of his term. The fund holds infrastructure. The commitment is already on the books.

The city still drinks a forest. Catskill and Delaware are two of the three supplies the Department of Environmental Protection operates. The department delivers one billion gallons a day to 8.5 million city residents. The Catskill and Delaware portion is the part kept unfiltered, under a filtration waiver in place since 1993. The forest on those watersheds is part of how that supply stays fit to drink. The city's beneficiaries already drink that supply.

:::johnson
**the grid sleeve can be a real investment. the forest is the other hold.**

One reportable partnership line beside the Sandbrook commitment, on the Catskill and Delaware forest the city's beneficiaries already drink.

[open the line →](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=temperate-forests.ensurance&name=catskill%20forest%20hold&from=guide)
:::

## what private markets climate investments name

The water words in that list are easy to over-read. "Strengthen energy and water security" and "improve resilience to extreme weather" sit in a sentence about technologies, next to reducing pollution. A technology can harden a plant, balance a feeder, store power, or cut what a building wastes. That is a project with a contract. The **Catskill and Delaware forest** is the living cover above the reservoirs. It is already standing when the brief is written. A technology clause does not place the hillside inside the fund.

That slice is a **climate sleeve**: a theme inside the private-markets book, and the vehicles allowed to express it. The $116 million in Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II is an interest in one of those vehicles, the right shape for a grid or a storage project. The forest is not itemized in the September 2026 infrastructure slate as presented. The bureau wants the sleeve in private markets because, as the release says, past progress on the systems' climate investments has come mostly from appreciation of technology stocks in the passive portfolios. Private markets are meant to own real assets. A power plant is one. The forest the city drinks is another, and it can stay unheld after a sound infrastructure buy.

A resilience fund, a financing facility, and a project pipeline can all be called [resilience investment](/guide/i-70-flood-closure-watershed-resilience?from=guide). The resilience is the living system that keeps working through the shock — the forest above a reservoir, the floodplain beside a road, the wetland in the path of the storm. Those exist whether or not anyone buys a certificate. **Ensurance** funds that living function. It is not the fund.

A certificate is that hold: a position on the present condition of a named living system, once a line exists. The line for this forest is not open. The account that would carry it is live at [temperate-forests.ensurance](/temperate-forests.ensurance?from=guide). The category argument, without these pension figures, is [what resilience capital actually buys](/guide/what-resilience-capital-actually-buys?from=guide).

## what the systems already hold

Two facts belong in different rows.

NYCERS, TRS, and BERS have committed $116 million to Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II. That interest belongs in a partnership report as infrastructure. Sandbrook is a cousin, and the work of that fund is the grid.

The $5 billion is still a presentation the bureau expects to bring to the three boards, each item subject to that system's own approval. Until the trustees vote, it is the scale of what the office intends to show.

Levine's test on the release is the one trustees already use: sound decisions that preserve and grow retirement assets. He placed cleaner, more reliable energy inside that test. The brief does not itemize the forest.

| | object | where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| The Sandbrook commitment | An interest in Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II | $116 million, committed earlier in 2026 by NYCERS, TRS, and BERS |
| The recommendation | Generation, the grid, storage, efficiency, transport, buildings, and technologies for pollution, water security, and extreme weather | $5 billion the bureau expects to present; each board still approves |
| The forest | The Catskill and Delaware forest on the unfiltered supply | Outside both rows until a line holds it on purpose |

The infrastructure rows are what the book does. The forest row is one line beside the commitment already signed. The slate can go to the boards as a grid book.

## the forest the city already drinks

Croton is the third supply. Catskill and Delaware are the unfiltered portion, and the Department of Environmental Protection already runs the watershed protection behind that waiver. The forest is part of the source the waiver depends on. The department has its own rules and its own reporting. This offer is addressed to the Bureau of Asset Management. It is not a second watershed program for the department.

The slate can be approved in full, and Sandbrook can call the $116 million, while the hillside still has no line that reports the forest as a hold. The infrastructure job can be done well and still miss the living system the city already drinks.

A hold is a position on present condition: cover, soil, and the path water takes before it is a reservoir. We do not assign the forest a dollar worth. The figure an allocator can carry is the line in the partnership report. There is no performance book on temperate-forests.ensurance to set beside an infrastructure fund.

## one line beside the commitment

The ask is one addition to the packet, smaller than the slate. The buyer is the Bureau of Asset Management, the office recommending private markets climate investments for TRS, NYCERS, and BERS. Levine is the officer on the release. The boards still approve.

For an investor, the solution is a [TNFD-aligned portfolio strategy](/solutions/investors?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment). TNFD is the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. In the narrow sense that fits this sleeve, the use case is a hold on the ecosystem the city's beneficiaries already depend on, reported as capital deployed toward that place. Sample percentages on that investors page are illustrations for other readers. They are not targets for TRS, NYCERS, or BERS. The work is the Catskill and Delaware forest that keeps the unfiltered supply working. The unit is one **reportable partnership line** beside the Sandbrook commitment. It is not a basis point of the $5 billion, and it is not a yield.

The line's name is `catskill forest hold`. It would sit under temperate-forests.ensurance, and it is in ideation. It shows as coming soon. Co-create means you propose it, a person reviews it, and the parent agent is the account that would receive it. A portfolio cannot list it as a position held today. How a certificate holds present condition, apart from a bond, is [a resilience certificate holds the condition](/guide/a-resilience-certificate-holds-the-condition?from=guide). This is not investment advice. A certificate is not offered here as a registered security or an insurance product.

| buyer | exposure | solution | work | unit | door |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYC Comptroller, Bureau of Asset Management, for TRS, NYCERS, and BERS | A $5 billion recommendation to the boards, still unapproved, and $116 million already in Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II | [TNFD-aligned portfolio strategy](/solutions/investors?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment): a hold on the ecosystem beneficiaries already depend on, reported as capital deployed toward that place | The Catskill and Delaware forest that keeps the unfiltered supply working | One reportable partnership line beside the Sandbrook commitment | [Investors](/solutions/investors?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment), [a person](/contact?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment), [the line](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=temperate-forests.ensurance&name=catskill%20forest%20hold&from=guide) |

The [investors page](/solutions/investors?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment) opens the TNFD-aligned use case: the dependency, the hold, and capital deployed toward that place. [Talk to someone about the line beside Sandbrook](/contact?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment) if a person should be in the conversation before a proposal. The question for a briefing of TRS, NYCERS, and BERS is whether that one line belongs beside the infrastructure commitment. The slate stays a grid book.

[Suggest catskill forest hold](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=temperate-forests.ensurance&name=catskill%20forest%20hold&from=guide) is the coming-soon door. [temperate-forests.ensurance](/temperate-forests.ensurance?from=guide) is the live parent you can open now. The forest line is what that account does not yet have.

## frequently asked questions

### what are private markets climate investments?

Private markets climate investments are institutional commitments, through private funds and similar vehicles, into assets meant to advance climate goals. In the Comptroller's September 23, 2026 proposal, the phrase is a $5 billion recommendation to the boards of TRS, NYCERS, and BERS, aimed at renewable generation, grid modernization, storage, efficiency, clean transportation, building decarbonization, and technologies that can reduce pollution, strengthen energy and water security, and improve resilience to extreme weather. The $116 million in Sandbrook Climate Infrastructure Fund II is that category, already committed. The forest is the hold the category does not contain.

### who pays for the forest a city already drinks?

The payer on this offer is the Comptroller's Bureau of Asset Management, for TRS, NYCERS, and BERS: one reportable partnership line beside the Sandbrook commitment, on the Catskill and Delaware forest. The Department of Environmental Protection already operates the watershed and the waiver. The line is the pension item, capital deployed toward the place beneficiaries depend on. The [investors use case](/solutions/investors?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment) is that report. A [conversation](/contact?from=guide&topic=resilience-investment) can start before the line exists.

### does a climate sleeve fund a watershed?

A climate sleeve funds its mandate: generation, the grid, storage, efficiency, transport, buildings, and technologies for pollution, water security, and extreme weather. The watershed is the living system above the reservoirs. The sleeve can close and the forest can still have no hold. The line that would name it is [catskill forest hold](/specific/create?mode=suggest&agent=temperate-forests.ensurance&name=catskill%20forest%20hold&from=guide), under [temperate-forests.ensurance](/temperate-forests.ensurance?from=guide), still in ideation.

### is catskill forest hold already live?

`catskill forest hold` is not minted. Coming soon is the accurate label. The suggest door is a proposal under temperate-forests.ensurance, then a human review, then the parent agent as the account that would receive it. The parent can be opened today. The line cannot be carried as an existing position.

## sources

[Office of the New York City Comptroller, September 23, 2026](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/nyc-comptroller-mark-levine-proposes-expansion-in-private-markets-climate-investments-to-advance-systems-climate-goals/) — the $5 billion recommendation, the focus list, the $116 million Sandbrook commitment, and the note on passive technology holdings.

[NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Water Supply](https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/water/water-supply.page) — one billion gallons a day to 8.5 million residents; Catskill, Delaware, and Croton supplies.

[NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Filtration Avoidance Determination](https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/about/filtration-avoidance-determination.page) — Catskill/Delaware filtration-waiver criteria met since January 1993. The department operates that protection.

## the series

- [what resilience capital actually buys](/guide/what-resilience-capital-actually-buys?from=guide)
- [what a resilience fund actually holds](/guide/what-a-resilience-fund-actually-holds?from=guide)
- [resilience finance is still a pipeline](/guide/resilience-finance-is-still-a-pipeline?from=guide)
- [a resilience certificate holds the condition](/guide/a-resilience-certificate-holds-the-condition?from=guide)
- [the forest beside the climate sleeve](/guide/the-forest-beside-the-climate-sleeve?from=guide)