The fund aims to help the Japanese paper-products manufacturer to achieve its 2030 environmental goals of growing their sustainable forestry assets and reducing carbon emissions.
New Forests, the global investment manager focused on nature-based assets, has partnered with Japanese paper-products manufacturer Oji Holdings to launch a fund to help meet the company’s 2030 environmental goals.
Oji will invest around $300m (€276m) into the Future Forests Innovations Fund, to invest in forestry plantations in Southeast Asia, North America, Latin America and Africa.
Currently, Oji manages a portfolio of 635,000 hectares of plantation forests. This latest initiative will help the company to expand its holdings by acquiring an additional 70,000 hectares of forestry assets. The company aims to achieve an additional 1.5m tCO2e per annum of net sequestration by 2030 from the forestry assets it acquires.
Speaking to Impact Investor, a New Forests spokesperson said that the fund will measure its impact in terms of carbon sequestration and environmental benefits through carbon insetting.
“Oji will be using this investment in forestry as part of carbon insetting, where companies reduce their emissions and carbon footprint, focusing on nature-based solutions like reforestation and renewable energy, rather than solely relying on offsetting,” the New Forest spokesperson said.
Momentum
“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 of New Forests, a firm with 20 years of experience in the managing forest investment funds.
“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.”
New Forests, which as of 30 June 2024 had A$11.6bn in assets under management across more than 4.2 million hectares of investment, manages a diversified portfolio of sustainable timber plantations and conservation areas, carbon and conservation finance projects, agriculture, timber processing and infrastructure.
Earlier this year, Impact Investor reported that New Forests had raised A$600m at final close for the Australia New Zealand Landscapes and Forestry Fund, with commitments from institutional investors from across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
