The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has recorded an African first, by listing the continent’s first nature-linked, performance-based bond.

The exchange reports that the FirstRand Bank Cape Water Performance-Based Bond is part of a broader transaction structure that supports efforts by conservation non-profit the Nature Conservancy to restore priority water catchment areas by removing invasive plant species, thereby increasing water flows into storage dams.

The ZAR2.5 billion issuance links part of investors’ returns to independently verified ecological restoration.

‘One of our key objectives was to make nature an investable asset class and build a natural capital market in South Africa that accommodates diverse participants, crowding in new pools of both local and international investors, alongside additional outcomes-based funders, and aligning the interests of all stakeholders in the value chain,’ according to Bhulesh Singh, FirstRand Group treasurer.

Corporate and investment bank Rand Merchant Bank was the organiser of the bond, with the IFC, FSD Africa Investments and Aluwani acting as co-anchor investors.

21 April 2026
Image: Freepik