Spencer Long
Technical Finance Advisor, Global Natural Climate Solutions
Washington, D.C.
Spencer Long Technical Finance Advisor, Global Natural Climate Solutions © TNC
Areas of Expertise
Natural Climate Solutions, blended finance, equitable financing mechanisms
Biography
As part of the Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) team, Spencer Long is the Global NCS Technical Finance Advisor at The Nature Conservancy. He works with global, regional and local teams, capital providers, and Indigenous and community partners to design and implement equitable financing mechanisms that accelerate the pace and scale of forest-focused natural climate solutions.
In this role, Spencer focuses on developing and stress-testing financing roadmaps for priority landscapes, building the financial and economic case for forest-based NCS pathways such as climate-smart forestry, reforestation and avoided deforestation, and supporting equitable finance mechanisms—including benefit-sharing structures and FPIC-aligned processes—that help Indigenous Communities and local partners access climate finance.
Before joining TNC, Spencer led partnership development at Intrinsic Exchange Group in Washington, DC, where he worked with foundations, development finance institutions, private investors and land stewards to structure Natural Asset Companies across Latin America and Asia. This included direct negotiation with more than 15 regenerative cattle ranchers in Montana to structure a 500,000-acre ranchland Natural Asset Company. He also served as a Senior Technical Associate with USAID's Sustainable Investment Accelerator, leading technical, regulatory and market due diligence on more than 30 early-stage climate enterprises and shaping recommendations behind $80 million in catalytic investment, while advising founders on business development and policy-aligned growth strategy.
Earlier in his career, Spencer was a Sustainable Finance Researcher with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, where he mapped climate innovation ecosystems across Mexico, Chile and the Caribbean and co-authored a national green finance and innovation policy roadmap. He has also held roles in microfinance fund management with Innpact in Luxembourg, supporting blended finance and impact bond initiatives with European DFIs and institutional investors; as Senior Project Coordinator with The Energy Coalition in Los Angeles, directing a $26 million public-sector clean energy and storage initiative; and as Social Entrepreneurship Program Manager with Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines, supporting climate-resilient agriculture and inclusive economic development.
Spencer holds an Erasmus Mundus Joint International Master's degree in Sustainable Business Development from the University of Glasgow, Universitat de Barcelona and Universidad de los Andes, and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and Economics, with a minor in Global Sustainability, from the University of Virginia.
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