Partnerships for Forests hits £1 billion funding milestone
Since 2016, consulting firm Palladium has been managing a fund aimed at fostering private and public collaboration in sustainable foresting projects. April 2023 saw the Partnerships for Forests organisation pass a key milestone, securing £1 billion in funding for projects around the world.
Founded in 2015, Palladium is a London-headquartered consultancy, focused primarily on digital change management. The firm assists clients with transitions of operation, from implementation through to board level, where its input also helps support both the cultural and commercial impact of digitally led change.
The firm regularly applies these capabilities to support sustainability projects around the world. For example, in 2022, a partnership between Palladium and UK National Parks to help restore natural habitats with private capital was recognised at the 2022 Business Green Leaders Awards, where it received Nature-based Project of the Year.
Palladium’s efforts range well beyond the UK, though.
Across Africa, South East Asia, and Latin America, Palladium has been managing a UK aid-funded programme alongside sustainability firm Systemiq, helping to similarly create market-ready public-private-community forest partnerships. Partnerships for Forests (P4F) seeks to catalyse investments into forests and sustainable land use, and since 2016 it has succeeded in bringing more than four million hectares of land under sustainable management.
Recently, the P4F team passed another major milestone. The organisation has now mobilised £1 billion of private investment to channel into forests and sustainable land use – made up of private investment from non-public sources, public investment from multilateral or regional development banks and development finance institutions.
According to P4F Team Leader Katie McCoy, the news represents a “substantial and landmark achievement” for a programme of P4F’s size, demonstrating that it is possible to mobilise significant private investment in this area.
“We and our partners have proven that these business models can work,” McCoy explained. “We’re continuing to work on scaling and replicating these successes, but it’s worth noting that this figure has breadth, rather than just scale. A huge range of projects has contributed to that one billion pounds, from all tropical countries in which we work, across the tropical forests belt, across a wide range of sectors, and from across the forest transition curve.”
According to P4F’s website, the funding has already been put to good use across Africa, Asia and South America. Examples include a project in Tanzania, helping local people take ownership of community forest resources; an initiative in Ghana to fight wild fires with forest-friendly farming practices; support for a bioeconomist utilising renewable resources in the Brazilian Amazon; and enabling fair market access for arenga palm sugar farmers in Indonesia, meaning fewer plantations of the much-maligned product are needed to turn a profit.
“We’re incredibly proud of the work that our team, our partners, communities, and actors from across the world have done to make this happen,” added McCoy. “Our work continues, to scale and replicate these investments and ensure the future of our forests.”