Reference
Core Terms
These terms give RICA readers a common language for assets, project records,
financing, portfolio formation, and note-level exposure.
RICA asset A small-scale operating infrastructure project aligned with a RICA solution framework and documented through RICA standards. Asset class A recognizable investment category. RICA aims to make distributed rural adaptation assets understandable as a private-market asset class. Mission And Impact Thesis Why RICA exists and what it is trying to make possible. Market Architecture How projects, loans, purchase pathways, pools, and notes fit together. Climate Adaptation Fundamentals The climate adaptation logic behind distributed rural infrastructure. Solution Frameworks The asset-pattern standards that define framework-specific operating and evidence requirements. RICA Standards The principles, frameworks, Project Information Model standards, templates, and data requirements that make RICA projects authentic, comparable, and financeable. RICA Atlas The software operating layer that connects project evidence, open project accounts, project-loan records, note monitoring, workflows, and controlled access. RICA Collective The partner ecosystem of sponsors, operators, contributors, service providers, and capital-market participants helping form and scale RICA assets. Sponsor The organization responsible for developing a project, preparing its evidence, coordinating stakeholders, and maintaining financing readiness. Operator The party accountable for day-to-day asset performance, maintenance, controls, reporting, and operating discipline. Community ownership A local ownership, participation, or benefit structure that gives frontline stakeholders a durable economic relationship to the asset. Nature stewardship The role and cash-flow logic that directs residual value toward biodiversity, restoration, or equivalent ecological objectives. RICA Project Information Model The formal project record that combines design, evidence, financial model, governance, risks, compliance, and reporting obligations for review. Evidence package The documents, data, media, permits, technical records, assumptions, and metrics used to support project claims and diligence. RICA-certified project proposal A proposed asset that has been structured against RICA principles, framework requirements, evidence expectations, and financing logic. Open project account The asset-level record that links GIS location, documents, evidence, metrics, stakeholder roles, financing terms, servicing behavior, and material events. Material event A change in operations, ownership, compliance, climate exposure, community alignment, evidence integrity, or financing behavior that can affect risk or reporting. Project loan A standardized financing instrument used to fund or refinance a RICA asset at the project level. Origination investor An investor that funds project loans before the asset has enough operating history for later purchase, pooling, or note-level exposure. Servicing The administration and monitoring of loan repayments, covenants, reserves, reporting obligations, and workout triggers after financing. Seasoning The period in which a financed project builds operating, reporting, and repayment history before it can be reviewed for purchase or pooling. Purchase eligibility The readiness test for whether a seasoned project loan has enough documentation, performance history, servicing record, and disclosure quality to move into a managed pool. Loan purchase and pooling The process of transferring eligible project loans into a managed portfolio so origination capital can recycle and investors can review diversified exposure. Note program A structured exposure pathway that references pools of eligible project loans while preserving asset-level legibility. Note investor An investor reviewing pooled RICA exposure through note-level documents, pool composition, cash-flow visibility, and selected underlying project records. Capital recycling The market loop in which proceeds from eligible loan purchase can return to origination investors and support new RICA assets. Metrics and verification The operating, financial, impact, audit, and approval records used to track performance and strengthen investor confidence.