NEW YORK, 13 December 2023 – The BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG) and Conservation International have won Environmental Finance’s 2023 award for Impact Investment/Project of the Year: Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
This award acknowledges the innovative collaboration launched by TIG and Conservation International on a climate-and nature-focused reforestation investment strategy in Latin America, which seeks to mobilize US$ 1 billion over five years and deliver significant benefits for both climate and biodiversity, alongside financial returns.
Gerrity Lansing, Head of TIG, said: “Our team is thrilled to once again share recognition with Conservation International and all of our partners, collaborators, and advisers who are committing their energy and resources to deliver impactful natural climate solutions at scale across Latin America.”
TIG and Conservation International won Environmental Finance’s award for ESG Investment Initiative of the Year in Latin America in both 2022 and 2023.
The reforestation strategy seeks to conserve and restore natural forests across half its area, or more than 300,000 acres seeking to deliver significant benefits for biodiversity. With Conservation International’s conservation expertise, TIG is further seeking to maximize this positive impact through restoration designs that reconnect fragmented native habitat, create new wildlife corridors or prioritize the restoration of areas that have potential conservation benefit.
Mark Wishnie, Chief Sustainability Officer at TIG, said: “In close collaboration with Conservation International, we are striving to deliver a strategy that is good for the climate, good for local communities, and also good for biodiversity. We are extremely encouraged by the early results and are very pleased to receive recognition from our peers for this work.”
Drawing on Conservation International’s expertise in conservation science, TIG and CI have designed a landscape-scale management plan for the first investment made under the strategy – a nearly 60,000- acre cattle-ranch – that targets the protection and restoration of approximately 30,000 acres on the acquired property and others in the region. The management plan is designed to protect the headwaters of an important watershed, support an expected increase in per-hectare employment on the acquired ranch and enhance biodiversity.
TIG has completed baseline measurements of flora and fauna on the first property in order to reliably monitor impact over time, including through the use of camera traps, water quality sampling, soil carbon sampling, and establishment of a detailed baseline of socioeconomic conditions in nearby communities. Working together, TIG and CI have put together a spatial design for natural restoration on the property. As a first step, this includes a focus on the protection and restoration that will ultimately end up connecting to additional forest patches within a highly fragmented landscape, targeting positive impacts for biodiversity.
Awards may not be representative of any one client’s experience and are not indicative of the future performance of the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, LLC or BTG Pactual.
Impact Project/Investment of the Year: Biodiversity and Ecosystems. The EF Sustainable Investment Awards are issued by Environmental Finance, an online news and analysis service that reports on sustainable investment, green finance, and environmental markets. A judging panel consisting of over 40 investors and industry experts chosen for their knowledge, objectivity and credibility along with the Environmental Finance editorial team reviewed the submitted entry material for this award. Judges scored each entry individually and any conflict of interest was removed. The judge’s scores are confidential. Award based on information relating to the period of November 2022 to September 2023. ESG investment initiative of the year, Latin America. Awarded on 29 June 2023. Award based on information relating to the period of March 2022 to April 2023. ESG investment initiative of the year, Latin America. Awarded on 29 June 2022. Award based on information relating to the period of March 2021 to April 2022.
TIG did not pay a fee to participate in these awards. However, TIG did pay a fee to Environmental Finance in connection with award logo redistribution rights.