The implementing partners of the Good Growth Partnership (i.e. the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Wildlife Fund, the International Finance Corporation, and Conservation International), have come together to sign a Statement of Intent with the &Green Fund.
Through this Statement of Intent, the Good Growth Partnership and &Green aim to work together to achieve their shared vision to remove deforestation from commodity supply chains. Fighting deforestation and the harm it does to the environment and social inclusion will be at the heart of a joint financing effort between the Good Growth Partnership and &Green. Combining the Global Environment Facility funding of GGP and commodity supply chain financing from &Green, stakeholders will come together to improve environmental and social performance in soy, livestock, palm oil and forestry sectors in tropical forest regions.
“This partnership is an exciting prospect,” says Pascale Bonzom, Global Project Manager of the Good Growth Partnership, “Sustainable Finance is one of GGP’s key drivers and we’re confident that a collaboration with &Green will make a significant contribution to accelerating our shared effort in protecting important vulnerable ecosystems by financing inclusive, sustainable and deforestation-free commodity production.”
Michael Schlup, Managing Director at Sail Ventures, the investment advisor to &Green, says: “The organisations collaborating under the Good Growth Partnership are important partners for &Green in establishing the best institutional frameworks for our clients to be successful – both at a jurisdictional and a landscape level. The partners can assist our clients in defining successful business models that are free from deforestation. In combination with &Green’s innovative financing solutions, this will create scalable blueprints that fully integrate sustainable production, social inclusion and forest protection.”
&Green is a Dutch non-profit developed under the leadership of the non-profit organization IDH – The Sustainable Trade Initiative in close collaboration with Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative. &Green invests in commercial projects in agricultural production value chains in order to protect and restore tropical forests and peatlands. By providing purpose-built capital for the sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems and business models that reduce deforestation, &Green aims to close the market gap between the possible long-term solutions and the lack of a short-term business case for forest and peatland protection
By supporting each other’s activities, the Good Growth Partnership and &Green seek to boost and improve the results of their respective efforts to reduce deforestation from commodities supply chains.
