Sustainable Blue Economies

People & Partners

Our Team

Erik Wandrag

CEO

Charles Buchanan

CFO

Robert Weary

Structured Finance

Anchor Investor

Climate Investor Two (CI2) is managed by Climate Fund Managers (CFM) – a leading blended finance fund manager dedicated to securing a sustainable future through investing across global emerging markets.

CFM has a long-term vision to structure cutting edge financing facilities around core areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation, including energy, water, sustainable land use, oceans and sustainable cities. With offices in The Hague, Cape Town and Singapore, CFM is established as a joint venture between the Dutch development bank, FMO, and Sanlam InfraWorks – part of the Sanlam Group of South Africa. CFM is the fund manager of two blended finance facilities which invest in the development and implementation of climate related businesses and projects across global emerging markets:

  • Climate Investor One, a USD 850 million fund investing in renewable energy projects;
  • Climate Investor 2 focusses on water, sanitation and ocean projects and was seeded with USD 90 million by the Dutch and Danish governments with a targeted fund size of USD 1 billion.

Technical Partners

  • The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
  • UNEP’s work includes assessing global, regional and national environmental conditions and trends; developing international and national environmental instruments; and strengthening institutions for the wise management of the environment.
  • UNEP’s work is categorised into seven broad thematic areas: climate change, disasters and conflicts, ecosystem management, environmental governance, chemicals and waste, resource efficiency, and environment under review. In all of our work, we maintain our overarching commitment to sustainability. 


  • CI works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity. Conservation International applies a “whole ocean” approach by designing solutions that address issues in the context of the entire system so that multiple benefits can be achieved and unintended negative consequences can be avoided. CI balances the many ways people interact with nature, including food production, economic development, community involvement and traditional knowledge sharing. This approach engages partners across all levels — from individual fishers to coastal communities to national governments — integrates science with traditional approaches, and acknowledges the connection between ecosystems and economics.
  • Since its inception, CI has helped to protect more than 6 million square kilometres of land and sea across more than 70 countries. CI has offices in 29 countries and 2,000 partners worldwide globally.
  • Dynamic Planet has work closely with multiple governments in helping create twenty-one of the largest national parks in the ocean, totalling over 5 million square kilometers to date. 
  • Is a strategic advisor to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, which includes 14 sitting heads of state co-chaired by Norway and the Republic of Palau.
  • Dynamic Planet partners include:
  • World Economic Forum
  • National Geographic
  • World Resources Institute
  • Smithsonian Conservation Commons
  • Global Impact Investment Network
  • Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation
  • Conservation Finance Network
  • Royal Geographical Society 
  • Prime Africa is as a specialist provider of environmental and resource economic services, offering an range of service including specialist financial and economic analysis, market intelligence and strategic and technical planning. 
  • The company has extensive expertise in costal and marine environments and has performed work for various governments and public entities focussing on managing marine protected areas to optimize economic benefits and to forecast effects of climate change. 
  • Prime Africa has partnered with UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on a large number of studies in seven African countries that evaluated ecological assets for policy and investment development purposes. It has also assisted countries with developing investment opportunities for ecosystem-based enterprises, under contract to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). 
  • Over the past 10 years, Prime Over the past 10 years, Prime Africa has performed over 200 significant studies spanning various aspects of resource economics.

Erik Wandrag

Over 15 years of responsibility for organic and inorganic growth investments in infrastructure sectors in Africa for various entities. 

Total cumulative project value in excess of US$ 15 billion. 

Featured as one of 10 people in the 2018 edition of Africa Power Elites.

Former roles include:

  • Director, Sanlam InfraWorks. 
  • Senior Transaction Advisor for U.S. Government’s Power Africa initiative.
  • Head: Energy at Harith General Partners (in excess of USD 3 billion in funds under management).
  • Head: Business Development at Cennergi (joint venture between Tata Power and Exxaro)
  • Management and strategy consulting to various entities including Sasol, Standard Bank, General Electric, Development Bank of Southern Africa, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Harmony Gold, Deloitte, Tetra Tech (a NASDAQ listed company), ESBi (Irish utility) and EnBW (German utility).


Erik Wandrag

Over 15 years of responsibility for organic and inorganic growth investments in infrastructure sectors in Africa for various entities. 

Total cumulative project value in excess of US$ 15 billion. 

Featured as one of 10 people in the 2018 edition of Africa Power Elites.

Former roles include:

  • Director, Sanlam InfraWorks. 
  • Senior Transaction Advisor for U.S. Government’s Power Africa initiative.
  • Head: Energy at Harith General Partners (in excess of USD 3 billion in funds under management).
  • Head: Business Development at Cennergi (joint venture between Tata Power and Exxaro)
  • Management and strategy consulting to various entities including Sasol, Standard Bank, General Electric, Development Bank of Southern Africa, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, Royal Bafokeng Holdings, Harmony Gold, Deloitte, Tetra Tech (a NASDAQ listed company), ESBi (Irish utility) and EnBW (German utility).


Charles Buchanan

Charles is a CFA charter holder and has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry in South Africa and the United Kingdom. He started his career in fixed income sales and trading at Rand Merchant Bank. He then spent eight years in London in the investment banking industry in trading and business management roles. Upon returning to South Africa in 2009, he provided risk advisory consulting services to investment banks and asset managers and was later appointed Chief Operating Officer at Catalyst Fund Managers, a role he held for five years.  Most recently Charles has focused on the private equity and impact investing sector through work at Maitland as Senior Business Development Manager, as MD of IQ-EQ South Africa and as a partner at Ankole Capital, a boutique advisory firm.

Charles loves the ocean and is an avid supporter of causes aimed at creating awareness for the protection of the oceans and their resources.

Charles Buchanan

Charles is a CFA charter holder and has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry in South Africa and the United Kingdom. He started his career in fixed income sales and trading at Rand Merchant Bank. He then spent eight years in London in the investment banking industry in trading and business management roles. Upon returning to South Africa in 2009, he provided risk advisory consulting services to investment banks and asset managers and was later appointed Chief Operating Officer at Catalyst Fund Managers, a role he held for five years.  Most recently Charles has focused on the private equity and impact investing sector through work at Maitland as Senior Business Development Manager, as MD of IQ-EQ South Africa and as a partner at Ankole Capital, a boutique advisory firm.

Charles loves the ocean and is an avid supporter of causes aimed at creating awareness for the protection of the oceans and their resources.

Robert Weary

  • Worked for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for nearly twenty-two years, leading an initiative to assist Small Island Developing States and coastal countries, using the issuance of Blue Bonds, to finance debt-conversions to fund marine conservation and ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change.  The first such debt-conversion (approx. US$22 million) was concluded in February 2016 with the Seychelles.  In 2019, Rob raised $40 million in grant funds to staff a team that developed additional debt-conversions totaling over $2+ billion for several countries across the globe in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. 
  • Other experience with TNC includes work on numerous debt-for-nature swaps under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Rica as well as the design and establishment of an eight country US$125+ million regional endowment (Caribbean Biodiversity Fund) and the associated national-level trust funds, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in sustainable financing for conservation projects in those countries.  Furthermore, Rob was the primary architect of the “Caribbean Challenge,” a twelve-country/territory regional initiative to place 20% of these countries near shore marine area under protection by 2020 and develop sustainable finance mechanisms to finance the countries national systems of Protected Areas.   
  • Prior to working with TNC, Rob worked in the World Bank’s Investment Management Department in the Treasury, helping to manage the Bank’s pension fund and short- term cash portfolios.  

Robert Weary

  • Worked for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for nearly twenty-two years, leading an initiative to assist Small Island Developing States and coastal countries, using the issuance of Blue Bonds, to finance debt-conversions to fund marine conservation and ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change.  The first such debt-conversion (approx. US$22 million) was concluded in February 2016 with the Seychelles.  In 2019, Rob raised $40 million in grant funds to staff a team that developed additional debt-conversions totaling over $2+ billion for several countries across the globe in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. 
  • Other experience with TNC includes work on numerous debt-for-nature swaps under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Rica as well as the design and establishment of an eight country US$125+ million regional endowment (Caribbean Biodiversity Fund) and the associated national-level trust funds, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in sustainable financing for conservation projects in those countries.  Furthermore, Rob was the primary architect of the “Caribbean Challenge,” a twelve-country/territory regional initiative to place 20% of these countries near shore marine area under protection by 2020 and develop sustainable finance mechanisms to finance the countries national systems of Protected Areas.   
  • Prior to working with TNC, Rob worked in the World Bank’s Investment Management Department in the Treasury, helping to manage the Bank’s pension fund and short- term cash portfolios.