New Partners approved by RSCF to Accelerate Private Investments in Landscape Restoration
Frankfurt and Geneva, 1 December 2022. The Restoration Seed Capital Facility (RSCF) has approved The Shared Wood Company (SWC) and New Forests as two new partners to qualify for the Facility’s support.
The Facility will provide SWC and New Forests with financial support to accelerate their efforts in identifying and developing a strong pipeline of investments in nature-based solutions that contribute to the protection, sound management and restoration of forest ecosystems across Central, South America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
“By co-funding pipeline development for landscape restoration projects, the Restoration Seed Capital Facility is working to accelerate the flow of private capital towards sustainable land use practices,” said Ivo Mulder, Head of the UN Environment Programme’s Climate Finance Unit. “Financial initiatives such as RSCF are critical ‘accelerators’ to expand restoration activities to the scale required to meet global climate change and biodiversity targets in line with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, while focusing on local economic development that generates added value and employment.”
About the Shared Wood Company
SWC is a French investment management company that sources, designs, and operates large-scale nature-based solutions (NBS) projects in Africa, Latin America and Europe to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change and rural poverty.
RSCF will support SWC in their development of investments focusing on forest & biodiversity conservation, sustainable restoration of degraded lands and sustainable forestry and agroforestry value chains.
Through their operations, SWC aims to sequester or avoid carbon emissions equivalent to at least 40 million tons of CO2 equivalent. SWC further aims to restore at least 40,000 ha land and protect 500,000 ha of endangered ecosystems. In addition, their operations will improve the livelihoods of an estimated 30,000 farmers.
Clément Chenost, Co-founder and Managing Partner of SWC said, “We are very grateful and honored to partner with the RSCF. It will boost our capacity to originate and operate ambitious restoration programs, with a particular focus on Africa and Latin America. These projects are urgently needed to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis.”
About New Forests
New Forests is a global investment manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies with USD 6.85 billion of assets under management. New Forests manages a diversified portfolio of sustainable timber plantations and conservation areas, carbon and conservation finance projects, agriculture, timber processing and infrastructure.
RSCF will support New Forests to develop the pipeline of investments under the Tropical Asia Forestry Fund 2 (TAFF 2), which focuses on sustainable forest management in Southeast Asia. Through a dedicated impact tranche, the fund will further invest in activities that will enhance its positive climate, biodiversity and livelihood impacts.
Geoffrey Seeto, Head of Emerging Markets at New Forests said, “New Forests’ vision is to see investment in land use and forestry as central to the transition to a sustainable future. Working with partners like Restoration Seed Capital Facility, enables us to collectively identify ways in which we can scale nature-based solutions, contribute to the circular bioeconomy and support communities and livelihoods.”
About the Facility
Supported by Germany and Luxembourg and implemented by UNEP and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, the Restoration Seed Capital Facility is a unique initiative to promote private investment in forest restoration, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration the Bonn Challenge, and the Rio Conventions, in particular the Paris Climate agreement, Land Degradation Neutrality targets, and the Aichi biodiversity targets.
The Restoration Seed Capital Facility aims to scale up forest and landscape restoration significantly during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. It was launched in October 2020 and is open to applications from any fund manager or investment adviser developing or running an investment vehicle targeting restoration-aligned activities.
For more information on the Restoration Seed Capital Facility please follow the below links:
- Explanatory Film
- Brochure
- Overview Presentation
Contact
For media enquiries, please contact: laura.phillips@un.org
For RSCF related questions, please contact: info@restorationfacility.org
