Forest Investor Club: 2023 Annual Report

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. WBCSD was selected to lead the FIC Secretariat in late 2022.

FIC and its members are committed to accelerating the deployment of capital into the protection, restoration and sustainable management of forests and nature by facilitating new partnerships, identifying potential investable opportunities, promoting pre-competitive knowledge sharing and solutions and showcasing innovative investment strategies.

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. A landscape assessment of initiatives working to overcome these barriers finds that 17 of 64 initiatives analyzed share four key characteristics – a focus on solutions to investment barriers, new partnership facilitation, the development of a pipeline of investment opportunities and being multi-stakeholder in nature. The analysis reveals that the landscape is ripe for collaboration, with complementary strengths, resources and networks to leverage.

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. These case studies demonstrate novel approaches, innovative partnerships and best practices that can help inform how NbS investment strategies can scale in size, pace and global reach.