Strategy. Impact. Solved.
Pauxi is the go-to platform for value creation.
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Solutions

Three disciplines.
One integrated perspective.

Sustainability

From water-intensive data centers to cross-jurisdictional ESG frameworks, we help organizations understand what compliance doesn't yet require, before it does.

Due Diligence · Strategy · Storytelling
Leadership

Twenty years executing complex, multi-jurisdictional projects across four continents. The kind of oversight that comes from having seen how things fail, and knowing how to prevent it.

Global Execution · Risk · Capacity Building
Built Environment

Strategic acquisition and transformation of undervalued properties. Every structure we touch is evaluated not just for return, but for what it could become in a community.

Real Estate · Infrastructure · Value Creation
AI Simulator

Step into the role.
Make the call.

A real infrastructure deal. Real tradeoffs. Navigate E&S issues as an Investment Officer and defend your decisions against IFC Performance Standards.

IFC PS · Simulator v1 Beta
IFC Performance Standards Free Access
The Unwami Solar Deal

Step into the role of Investment Officer. Navigate real E&S tradeoffs and defend your decisions against IFC Performance Standards.

Lead before you are led — decisions made here reflect the calibration that separates proactive leaders from reactive ones.

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Investment Officer IFC Performance Standards High Stakes
The Unwami Solar Deal

A 45MW solar project in Rwanda. The sponsor is pushing for board approval in 6 weeks. Your job is to decide whether this deal is ready — and what conditions to attach.

Your brief

Due diligence flagged three E&S issues. The sponsor says they're minor. Your instinct says otherwise. Navigate each issue, make the call, and defend your decisions.

Deal snapshot
Sponsor

Solaris East Africa Ltd

Location

Bugesera District, Rwanda

Investment

USD 28M senior debt

Board deadline

6 weeks

Issue 1 of 3
PS5 — Land & Resettlement
The missing farmers
SE

Sponsor (email, yesterday): "The 12 farming households on the eastern parcel have been compensated and relocated. All signed. No issues. We can close this chapter."

Field intelligence

Your local consultant visited the site. Three households were not present during the signing. Their neighbours say they were "away for harvest season" — common in Bugesera. The sponsor's RAP has no seasonal absence protocol.

The sponsor says it's done. Your consultant says it isn't. What do you do?

Issue 1 of 3
PS5 — Land & Resettlement
What's your move?

Choose how you handle the three absent households.

Issue 2 of 3
PS1 — ESMS & Grievances
The grievance nobody logged
MU

Community liaison (field notes): "A group of women from Nyamata sector approached me. The project site blocks their path to the water point. They tried the sponsor's hotline. Nobody answered."

What you found in the ESMS review

The sponsor has a grievance log. It shows zero entries across 18 months of pre-construction activity. The hotline number on their stakeholder engagement report has a wrong digit.

A broken grievance mechanism is a PS1 non-conformance — not a technicality. Construction starts in three weeks.

Issue 2 of 3
PS1 — ESMS & Grievances
What's your move?

The grievance mechanism is broken and a real complaint is already sitting unresolved.

Issue 3 of 3
PS2 — Labor & Workers
The contractor's workers
JK

Your E&S analyst (Slack, this morning): "The EPC contractor is using a local labor subcontractor. I can't find any evidence the sponsor reviewed their HR practices. No OHS records, no wage documentation — nothing."

Context

The EPC contract was signed before your institution's commitment. The subcontractor employs around 180 local workers. The sponsor says "contractor management is the EPC's responsibility."

Under PS2, contracted workers performing core business activities are the client's responsibility — not something they can delegate to the EPC.

Issue 3 of 3
PS2 — Labor & Workers
What's your move?

180 workers, no documented labor practices, sponsor deflecting to the EPC.

Verdict
Your verdict on the Unwami Solar Deal
Decision log
What this tested

Investment officers must distinguish between issues that delay board, issues resolved by conditions precedent, and issues that block disbursement. Getting this calibration wrong creates both compliance exposure and real harm for affected communities.

This is what it means to lead before you are led — knowing where the line is before the regulator draws it for you.

PS1 §25–35 · PS2 §24–26 · PS5 §12–15 · GN PS5 §GN32
About

Resilience is not
a shield.
It is a map.

The Pauxi is a rare endangered bird of the Andes. Its survival is exquisitely fragile. We named our practice after it deliberately. The world's most consequential systems share this same vulnerability. Aquifers. Ecosystems. Supply chains. Communities. Infrastructure. They do not announce their breaking point. They simply break.

Our work is about value creation at that edge. We harden assets against climate risk. We translate complexity into strategy. We weave AI and automation into existing engineering systems — not to replace judgment, but to sharpen it. And when data alone isn't enough, we tell the stories that move people to act.

The name Pauxi reflects this approach. The helmeted curassow thrives in ecosystems most consider too fragile to navigate. So do we.

Founder
Melisa Pernalete Simić

Melisa Pernalete Simić

Founder & Principal

We were founded on a simple promise: personalized, scalable solutions that create value. Not compliance checkboxes. Not boilerplate reports. Value for assets, for communities, for the systems that sustain both.

Melisa Pernalete Simić brings comprehensive experience across private equity, development finance, and sustainability management. Having steered high-stakes transactions and strategic advisory engagements spanning North and Latin America as well as EMEA, she offers a uniquely global, multi-disciplinary perspective. This deep cross-sector expertise allows Pauxi to seamlessly bridge the gap between rigorous investor requirements, evolving regulatory expectations, and on-the-ground operational realities.

She is a published contributor to Greener Data, Volume Three (2026) and writes children's books about nature, because the long game of sustainability begins with what we teach the next generation to notice.

Connect on LinkedIn
Current Focus · Deep Expertise

The biodiversity opportunity inside your data center

5,000+

US data centers today — up from ~1,000 just six years ago, driven by AI demand

400+

operating data centers in Texas alone, with 70 more planned and no water reporting requirements

70%

of areas with the highest concentrations of imperiled species in the US sit on private land, outside federal protection

The US data center sector has exploded from roughly 1,000 facilities six years ago to more than 5,000 today — with AI demand set to require more new infrastructure in the next decade than was built in the previous three combined. This expansion is colliding with a regulatory framework designed for a different era. Nearly 70% of areas with the highest concentrations of imperiled species in the US sit on private land, outside the reach of federal protection. Texas has over 400 operating data centers with 70 more planned, yet requires no water usage reporting. Alabama allows riverside extraction without permits, with self-regulated compliance and no penalties for non-compliance. The biodiversity and water risk is not coming. It is already embedded in the site selection decisions being made right now.

Europe's Water Framework Directive and Natura 2000 network demonstrate that protection and development are not a contradiction — they are a design choice. The organizations that treat environmental considerations as strategic advantages, build authentic community partnerships, and lead before they are led will not just avoid liability. They will define what responsible digital infrastructure looks like for the next generation.

Chapter 3 · Greener Data: Volume Three

I am excited to be a contributing author to Greener Data: Volume Three, launched this Earth Day. In Chapter 3, I explore environmental considerations as strategic advantages and what it will take to scale responsibly as demand accelerates. This project brings together perspectives from across the digital infrastructure ecosystem.

Purchase on Amazon →

Let's build
something meaningful.

If you're navigating a complex sustainability, infrastructure, or transformation challenge and you want a partner who leads before they are led — reach out.

Begin the Conversation
Legal

Privacy Policy

Effective date: May 2026 · pauxi.com

1. Who We Are

Pauxi Group is a sustainability and infrastructure advisory practice founded by Melisa Pernalete Simić. Our website is located at www.pauxi.com. If you have questions about this policy or your data, contact us at hello@pauxigroup.com.

2. What Data We Collect

We collect only the information you provide directly to us. This currently includes:

  • Name and email address — collected through our AI Simulator access gate, so we can follow up with relevant insights and updates.
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We do not collect payment information, sensitive personal data, or any data through cookies or tracking scripts at this time.

3. How We Use Your Data

Your information is used solely to:

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We will never sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

4. Data Retention

We retain your information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described above, or as required by applicable law. You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us at hello@pauxigroup.com.

5. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

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To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@pauxigroup.com.

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This site contains links to external platforms including Amazon, LinkedIn, and Greener Data. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to review their policies independently.

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We take reasonable precautions to protect your information. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is 100% secure. We will notify you promptly in the event of any breach affecting your personal data.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the effective date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

9. Contact

For any privacy-related questions or requests:
hello@pauxigroup.com
Pauxi Group · pauxi.com

This privacy policy was last updated May 2026. It does not constitute legal advice. For operations subject to GDPR, CCPA, or other regional privacy laws, please consult qualified legal counsel.