key challenges
water and power utilities face compounding supply volatility, infrastructure vulnerability, emerging contaminant pressure, and TNFD disclosure requirements tied directly to ecosystem dependencies.
source water degradation
watersheds face wildfire, drought, and land use change that degrade the water purification services your supply depends on — TNFD rates this dependency "very high." losing it means higher treatment costs, supply disruption, and regulatory exposure.
PFAS & emerging contaminants
TNFD core metric WU.C2.0 requires PFAS disclosure (ng/L incoming and outgoing). preventing contamination upstream through source water protection is cheaper than treating it at the plant.
sewer overflows & downstream impact
sanitary sewer overflows damage downstream ecosystems. TNFD core metric WU.C2.1 requires reporting overflow volumes and recovery — creating a direct need for funded restoration at discharge points.
wildfire & erosion exposure
post-fire debris flows, reservoir sedimentation, and slope instability threaten hydro capacity, water intake structures, and power infrastructure — compounding after wildfire events.
infrastructure designed for historical conditions
engineered systems face increasing stress from extreme weather, changing precipitation patterns, and demand beyond design capacity.
TNFD disclosure & catchment reporting
TNFD requires water utilities to include catchment land in spatial footprint (C1.0), report watershed restoration partnerships (WU.A25.0), disclose water reuse volumes (WU.C3.0), and report water loss mitigated (WU.C3.1). most utilities lack both the data and the instruments to act on it.
how ensurance helps
invest in source watershed protection — forests, wetlands, meadows — that maintain water purification and flow regulation at lower cost than treatment upgrades
hold certificates on watershed agents that count directly as watershed restoration partnerships (TNFD metric WU.A25.0) — each certificate is a reportable partnership
include certificate watershed boundaries as your disclosed catchment footprint (TNFD C1.0) — the agent's geography IS your reported spatial footprint
fund upstream source water protection — riparian restoration, buffer zones, filtration wetlands — that prevents PFAS and contaminants before they reach your intake
fund downstream ecosystem restoration at discharge and overflow points, closing the impact-disclosure-restoration loop
deploy fuel reduction, slope stabilization, and prescribed fire that protect water infrastructure, transmission corridors, and reservoir capacity
establish MRV systems that quantify ecosystem service dependencies and justify natural infrastructure investments to regulators and ratepayers
provide parcel-level ecosystem dependency data for TNFD LEAP assessments across your full value chain — abstraction points, treatment, distribution, discharge
relevant services
BASIN services tailored for utilities
nature finance & valuation
use cases
real-world scenarios for utilities
source watershed investment
a water utility holds ensurance certificates on headwater watershed agents, reporting them as watershed restoration partnerships (WU.A25.0). certificate proceeds fund riparian restoration and forest health, reducing treatment costs by 20% while filling three TNFD metrics at once.
PFAS source prevention
a utility facing elevated PFAS levels funds upstream land use management and buffer zone restoration through watershed certificates — preventing contamination at the source rather than treating it at the plant, at a fraction of the cost.
sewer overflow restoration
after reporting overflow volumes under WU.C2.1, a utility holds certificates on downstream river agents. proceeds fund ecosystem recovery from exactly the damage the overflow caused — closing the TNFD feedback loop from impact to funded restoration.
transmission corridor protection
an electric utility funds ensurance certificates for fuel reduction across 50,000 acres adjacent to transmission lines — reducing PSPS events by 40% and cutting wildfire liability exposure.
green infrastructure portfolio
a stormwater utility builds an ensurance portfolio of wetlands, bioswales, and urban forests that provide flood capacity at 60% the lifecycle cost of gray alternatives while contributing to water reuse targets (WU.C3.0).
ensurance instruments
the tools that power your natural capital strategy
specific certificates
certificates tied to individual natural assets with defined locations & attributes
agents
ai agents with their own accounts for autonomous stewardship & management
syndicates
shared groups pooling capital around specific natural capital objectives
ready to get started?
let's discuss how ensurance can work for you