RICA Principles

Principles are the basis for authentic assets.

RICA secures local social and natural capital as the foundation of durable value chains. Its principles make projects financeable, comparable, and monitorable across diverse rural adaptation frameworks by defining a common doctrine for ownership, investment, operation, residual value, and transparency.

01 Assets are real operating businesses RICA assets are cash-flow-generating operating projects with defined products or services, counterparties, assets, maintenance obligations, and reporting.

02 Assets implement effective adaptation solutions Assets implement science-backed adaptation solutions using proven technologies and processes.

03 Community ownership is real Assets have a community ownership model or equivalent local participation structure that gives frontline stakeholders a durable economic relationship to the asset. Community land and water rights (private or collective) are explicitly preserved and possibly strengthened.

04 Commercial operation is professionally managed Community participation does not replace commercial discipline. Sponsors, operators, or operating partners carry clear performance responsibility, financial controls, maintenance obligations, and reporting accountability.

05 Nature participates in residual value "Nature owns the equity" is a cash-flow design principle. After operating costs, reserves, financing claims, and agreed sponsor economics are addressed, residual value is allocated to nature stewards for location-specific ecological objectives.

06 Project waterfalls are standardized Cash flows move through operating expenses, resilience and reserve allocations, financing repayments, sponsor participation, and residual stewardship distribution in a sequence investors can compare across assets.

07 Project loans use a common investment model Drawdown, repayment base, repayment share, tenor, reporting, servicing, covenants, reserves, and workout triggers are defined in a comparable project-loan language.

08 Financing follows asset performance Repayment structures recognize ramp-up periods, seasonality, maintenance requirements, reserve needs, and variable operating performance rather than forcing rural assets into unsuitable conventional templates.

09 Transparency is a product feature Each RICA asset is connected to a digital Open Project Account that holds location, identity, stakeholder roles, ownership and stewardship records, documents, media, metrics, financing terms, servicing behavior, and material events.

10 Seasoning and purchase are built in from origination Origination loans are structured with later purchase, transfer, and pooling in mind, so evidence, terms, servicing records, and eligibility data are built from the start.

11 Note structures preserve asset-level legibility Even when exposure is pooled, investors should retain visibility into project cohorts, framework mix, geography, loan purchases, servicing performance, concentration, and material events.

12 Local capital recycles through structured distribution Local and catalytic capital can originate assets, demonstrate performance, and rotate into new projects after eligible loan purchase rather than becoming trapped in the first wave of deployments.

13 RICA is inclusive by stakeholder design Community ownership, commercial operation, nature stewardship, standardized documentation, and investor-grade transparency are mutually reinforcing parts of one model.

Principle-to-evidence matrix

RICA treats evidence as infrastructure. The matrix below shows how doctrine becomes project records that can be reviewed across assets, loans, pools, and note-level monitoring.

Principle area	Evidence RICA requires	Market use
Operating business	Asset description, counterparties, revenue logic, operating plan, budget, maintenance plan, and management responsibility.	Shows that the project can be underwritten as an operating asset rather than an impact narrative.
Community ownership	Ownership records, participation agreements, benefit-sharing logic, governance roles, and local consent evidence.	Makes local participation structural and reviewable.
Commercial management	Operator profile, service obligations, controls, reporting cadence, maintenance records, and escalation procedures.	Documents who is accountable for asset performance after deployment.
Nature stewardship	Steward role, residual distribution logic, stewardship account, biodiversity or ecological objectives, and reporting obligations.	Connects residual economics to credible ecological governance.
Project loan standardization	Term sheet, repayment model, reserves, covenants, servicing schedule, material-event triggers, and workout framework.	Allows lenders and purchasers to compare one project loan with another.
Open project account	GIS record, asset boundary, project documents, media, metrics, financing records, material events, and permissioned visibility settings.	Keeps distributed infrastructure visible at the level where risk and impact occur.
Note legibility	Pool composition, concentration, loan purchase records, servicing reports, note documents, distributions, and investor monitoring views.	Preserves the line from pooled exposure back to the underlying assets.

Compliance and integrity

Compliance is continuous.

RICA compliance is not a one-time label. Assets can move out of compliance when records, obligations, or material conditions change without proper disclosure and review.

Reporting failure

A project can move out of compliance if required operating, financial, evidence, or metric reports are not delivered or reviewed.

Operator change

A change in sponsor, operator, steward, or key contractor requires review because it can change the project risk profile.

Covenant or servicing breach

Missed covenants, reserve shortfalls, payment issues, or servicing gaps affect purchase eligibility and investor reporting.

Evidence integrity loss

Incomplete, stale, inconsistent, or unreliable source records can undermine the project account and its comparability.

Material local event

Climate, operational, legal, stakeholder, or ecological events require disclosure and may trigger remediation or financing action.

Remediation

Correction pathways are part of market design.

Remediation can include additional evidence, revised operating controls, updated documents, investor notification, loan servicing action, or removal from purchase eligibility. The purpose is not to make every project look clean at all times. It is to make changes visible, reviewable, and governed.

01 RICA Standards Move from doctrine to Project Information Model records, solution frameworks, metrics, and standards under development. 02 RICA Atlas See how project accounts, evidence, metrics, loan records, and note monitoring preserve the operating record. 03 Investor Primer Read the asset-class view of RICA as emerging rural adaptation infrastructure exposure.

Principles adoption

Discuss how RICA Principles apply to a project or mandate.

Request a briefing to discuss project eligibility, evidence expectations, open project accounts, stewardship, or financing readiness under RICA Principles.

Request a briefing