Althelia Climate Fund 1: Launched in 2013, the Fund’s portfolio – now fully committed – comprises of real assets, including certified agroforestry produce and environmental assets such as carbon (sometimes used as collateral).39 By investing in sustainable land-use practices, Althelia aims to mitigate the main drivers of deforestation and reduce carbon emissions for the land-use sector.
The Fund has helped avoid 101,300 hectares of deforestation, 41.8 million tonnes of CO2, and protected 2 million hectares of critical habitat.40 Its fully invested portfolio includes 10 projects, eight of which are still active, with investments ranging from $7-13million. Projects are centred around (i.) conservation and restoration (e.g. $7 million investment into the Tambopata-Bahuaja Biodiversity Reserve project, which focuses on long-term restoration of the reserve’s buffer zone around the park by producing cacao); (ii.) scaling sustainable agriculture (e.g. the Cooperativa Agraria Industrial Naranjillo Ltda., which focuses on the optimization and restructuring of the Cooperative’s cacao and coffee processing capacity); (iii.) improving human livelihoods (e.g. PECSA’s sustainable cattle ranching model in Brazil).
Althelia has sinced been bought by Mirova - an asset manager dedicated to sustainable investing, part of Natixis Investment Managers - and renamed Mirova Natural Capital.
39 Althelia Impact Report 2019, https://althelia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ALTHELIA_ImpactReport_2019_V17-3.pdf
40 Althelia 2019. Impact Report: Aligning Economy with Ecology. Available: https://althelia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/ALTHELIA_ImpactReport_2019_V17.pdf