The U.S. Department of State formed the Forest Investor Club (FIC), a network of leading public and private sector investors in forests and nature, at COP26 as part of its broader USD$9 billion commitment to conserve and restore forests and other natural ecosystems.
This first Annual Report for FIC includes an assessment of barriers to scaling investment in forests and nature, introduces the Forest Investor Club and its Theory of Change and describes how FIC fits within the broader landscape of initiatives working on solutions and progress made since its inception. It also highlights insights for effective nature-based solutions (NbS) investment through case studies of strategies led by FIC Members.
The report identifies several barriers hindering greater investment in NbS related to market readiness, investor capacity, pipeline development, commercial considerations, clear and consistent standards, methodologies, data and metrics and the broader enabling environment.
The report features seven case studies of FIC Members – the Apple Restore Fund, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG) Latin America Reforestation Strategy, Conservation International (CI) Ventures, the Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) New Food Systems Strategy, the Mirova Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund, the New Forests African Forestry Impact Platform (AFIP) and the &Green Fund advised by SAIL Ventures.
