The move is the latest example of green groups working more closely with financial companies to tackle environmental problems like climate change and deforestation.

"Mark is opening innovative possibilities for aligning economic forces with conservation," Gretchen Daily, a biology professor at Stanford University and a Nature Conservancy board member, said in a statement.

Tercek worked with Daily on advancing finance and policy mechanisms for valuing forest systems for the roles they play in supporting human health, thereby creating alternatives to rainforest destruction, the Conservancy said.

He was also an advisor in the 2007 buyout of utility TXU Corp by a group, including private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, in which the power generator agreed to halt plans to build several coal-fired power plants.

"He has made a significant contribution to our own environmental efforts and, before that, to our banking franchise," Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's chairman and CEO said in a release.

The Nature Conservancy is working to achieve its 2015 goal of conserving 10 percent of all natural habitats on the planet.