The BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group’s mission is to sustainably manage the world’s timberland. Since our founding more than 40 years ago, we have understood that the careful stewardship of our natural resources is essential for ensuring the long-term performance of our investments and that sustainably-managed forests can deliver myriad benefits for people and the planet. But as the world faces increasingly urgent threats to climate stability, human development and biodiversity, we are continuously looking for ways that TIG can be part of the solution — the innovations, best practices and partnerships that can unlock new opportunities for enhanced climate, social and environmental impacts, while we continue to seek attractive returns for our investors.
The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 underscored the importance of this journey. In addition to causing significant hardships for people and businesses across multiple fronts, the pandemic focused the world’s attention on issues of social justice, threats to globalization, the fragility of supply chains, environmental degradation and how the effects of climate change can make other crises more severe. This challenged businesses to reckon with environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors with increased urgency, and to reconsider the role the private sector can and must play in helping build a better future.
At TIG, this was a call to action that we took seriously. 2020 opened a new chapter in our ongoing commitment to sustainability. We hired Mark Wishnie as our Chief Sustainability Officer to provide overall leadership on our sustainability policy and performance.
This actually marked a return for Mark, who had previously headed Portfolio Management at TIG, before joining the The Nature Conservancy to lead its Global Forestry Program. One of Mark’s first orders of business was to work with the team to launch a new investment strategy which seeks opportunities to deliver significantly enhanced climate, social, and environmental benefits from our investments and management practices.
2020 also saw significant progress in our efforts to forge new partnerships to ensure our ESG practices are aligned with industry best practices. We conducted a thorough review of our Key Performance Indicators using the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) and the Sustainable Development Goals as guides. Our parent, BTG Pactual, also joined the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) to leverage the information, tools and resources offered by this platform.
This report seeks to improve our stakeholders’ understanding of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance related to the timberland assets managed by TIG and our portfolio companies. As we turn our focus toward 2021, we look forward to continuing to strengthen our reporting to provide the best possible transparency on both progress and challenges as we seek to deliver positive impact through our investment strategies and management practices.