Imperative Appoints John Nagulendran as Chief Growth & Investment Officer and Member of the Board

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Imperative, a leading next-gen carbon project development company, today announced the appointment of John Nagulendran as Chief Growth & Investment Officer and Member of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Nagulendran is a seasoned executive who brings more than 20 years of experience in strategy development, M&A and corporate finance, investment management and corporate governance to Imperative. In his new role, he will support Imperative CEO Scobie Mackay with identifying and executing Imperative’s capital and strategic growth plans. He will also be responsible for delivering scalable sustainable growth opportunities across the business alongside Imperative’s global team and leading strategic engagement with the company’s investors, governments, civil society and other stakeholders in connection with Imperative’s commitment to combat climate change.

Scobie Mackay, CEO of Imperative, said:

“We are very pleased to welcome John to Imperative. John brings an impressive combination of natural resources investment, private equity and M&A experience, and proven leadership capability to the role. We look forward to working with him to deliver Imperative’s mission of developing high-integrity, large-scale ecosystem restoration and management projects that enhance and protect biodiversity, improve the livelihoods of communities and contribute to the transition towards Net-Zero.”

“Imperative approaches its projects as Nature Infrastructure, bringing infrastructure-grade projects capabilities to the ecosystem restoration and management sector. John’s strategic vision and extensive experience in the financing and management of natural resources assets, are directly aligned with Imperative’s objective of bringing best-in-class know-how from adjacent markets to bear on nature-based projects.”

Imperative’s objectives

Established in 2022, Imperative is committed to using the Voluntary Carbon Market, through a focus on integrity and quality, to accelerate a just climate transition.

Imperative’s goal is to be in the top 10% of quality in the market and to assist in defining what “high-quality” looks like for nature restoration and management projects. In doing so, Imperative is working to deliver against key design, execution and monitoring, reporting and verification criteria that are becoming the benchmarks for quality in the market, including Microsoft and Carbon Direct’s Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal, ICVCM Core Carbon Principles criteria, and other industry guidance for best-in-class projects.

Imperative’s corporate developments

Imperative’s ecosystem restoration and management projects are designed to create not only large-scale climate and biodiversity impacts and to sequester a substantial amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but also to enhance and protect biodiversity and to deliver transformative outcomes for local communities through financial benefit sharing, training, employment and local restoration and conservation initiatives.

Key recent developments for Imperative include:

• Spekboom Ecosystem Restoration Project. Launch of its first phase 10,000-hectare ecosystem restoration project in South Africa, which at full scale aims to restore 100,000 hectares of land through active replanting of native thicket across a vast area in the Eastern and Western Capes. The Spekboom Project, which has received an ex ante BeZero Standalone Carbon Rating of ‘aa’ and a BeZero Carbon ex ante Rating of ‘Ae’, is being executed under Verra VM0047 methodology and funded by Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers dedicated to sustainable investing, along with GenZero, a Temasek-owned investment platform focused on accelerating decarbonisation globally and Rubicon Carbon, a carbon credit management firm backed by TPG Rise Climate. A 50,000-hectare Phase 2 of the project is expected to commence execution in the second half of 2025.

• Strategic Partnerships. Establishment of strategic partnerships with Rubicon Carbon, Freepoint Commodities and Artemeter, a DRW Company, for the development, financing and marketing of up to US$750 million of Imperative’s high-quality, large-scale projects, bringing together institutional capital, specialized carbon know-how and deep projects expertise.

• Project Pipeline. In addition to the expansion of its South African project, Imperative has a pipeline of large-scale Nature-Based Solutions carbon dioxide removals projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America, including near-term projects in Peru, Mexico and India.

John Nagulendran’s background

Prior to joining Imperative, Mr. Nagulendran spent 14 years at Swiss-based Pala Investments where he was responsible for structuring and executing public and private equity raisings, project financings, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions and divestments in the natural resources and critical minerals sector. He was previously at Herbert Smith Freehills and Rajah & Tann, spending over 8 years advising clients on cross-border investments, corporate transactions and project financings.

Mr. Nagulendran serves on the Board of Kofi Annan Foundation and is the founder of Nagulendran Philanthropy Alliance, a family philanthropic fund dedicated to supporting and investing in dialogue, mediation and peacebuilding. He holds a bachelor’s degree in law from King’s College London and is a qualified lawyer in both England and Singapore.

About Imperative

Imperative is committed to advancing carbon credit project development, operations, and the production of high-quality carbon credits. We believe that nature-based projects can be executed to an infrastructure-grade of quality. With expertise in carbon markets, ecosystem restoration, and major-projects project execution, Imperative focuses on emerging markets and scalable project types. By taking a hands-on approach to project development and operations, and importing knowledge from other sectors, Imperative aims to address quality issues in voluntary carbon markets at the source. Our mission is to design, develop, own and operate, at scale, the best carbon credit projects in the world and to optimize those projects using technology.

For more information, visit www.imperativeinc.com.