Global investment manager New Forests has co-created the Future Forest Innovations Fund, a corporate forest investment fund, to help reach its 2030 environmental goals. New Forest partnered with Oji Holdings, a Japanese paper manufacturer, on the fund, with the latter investing US$300 million. Through the vehicle, Oji will look to invest in productive plantation forestry assets in Southeast Asia, North America, Latin America and Africa, which generate a financial return and provide “considerable climate benefits”. Oji will seek to target an additional 1.5 million Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent per annum of net sequestration by 2030 from the forestry assets it acquires. Oji aims to invest in 70,000 hectares of plantation forests, across greenfield and brownfield assets in the four main regions, adding to the 635,000 hectares it has already invested in. Established in 2005, New Forests has A$11.7 billion (US$7.4 billion) in AUM across more than 4.2 million hectares of investments. “We are continuing to see momentum and interest from corporates looking to invest in forestry and the natural capital asset class,” said Mark Rogers, CEO at New Forests. “By investing in sustainable forest plantations in four major regions of the world, we will be assisting Oji to achieve their 2030 mission of growing their sustainable forestry assets and reducing overall carbon emissions.”
