Belantara Foundation Embarks on Partnership With Climate & Forest Capital To Encourage Private Sector Investment in Indonesia’s Carbon Market

Marrakesh, MOROCCO (November 15, 2016) –Indonesian not-for-profit Belantara Foundation and US based investment firm Climate & Forest Capital agreed to join forces on Tuesday in an effort to explore carbon credit investment opportunities within 10 priority landscapes across Kalimantan and Sumatra.

The partnership, announced on the side of UNFCCC’s COP22 negotiations. comes after a consortium of organizations, including Climate & Forest Capital, launched an investment blueprint for the REDD+ Acceleration Fund (“RAF”).  This new financing mechanism is being designed to help combat climate change by getting funds flowing into forest carbon credits, specifically by creating a vehicle which provides investors with enough security to start buying high-quality REDD+ credits.

“This is an exciting time for Belantara Foundation and for Indonesia. Our cooperation with Climate & Forest Capital marks the next phase of our work that will see to the development of blended financing schemes in which co-financing will enable reallocation of risks for interested impact investors.”

“We cannot rely solely on public sector funding if we want to achieve long-term sustainability within Indonesia’s critical landscapes. The private sector needs to play a role in climate finance — it’s time we develop the groundwork to make this happen,” said Agus Sari, Belantara CEO.

Speaking during the MoU signing in Marrakesh, Eron Bloomgarden, a partner at the investment firm, Climate & Forest Capital, explained why Indonesia’s carbon market offers a bounty of potential for private sector investors.

“Curbing global deforestation in Indonesia is crucial to addressing global climate change.  We believe economic incentives must change to make trees and forests worth more alive than dead. And we think that payments for REDD+ credits can play an important role in solving global climate change and addressing local deforestation.  We are very excited to be exploring this partnership with Belantara Foundation.”

While it’s still early days, Climate & Forest Capital and the other firms behind the REDD+ Acceleration Fund plan to reveal a draft investment blueprint during the COP22 negotiations in Morocco, after which they will publish the blueprint in early 2017. In the meantime Belantara Foundation will investigate potential project partners on the ground,which are producing, or intend to produce, REDD+ credits.