Backed by corporate investors the Silva Carbon Origination Fund is helping Australia’s largest emitters decarbonise through high-integrity environmental plantings. Max Butler, Investment Director, discusses the achievement over the past year as well as what’s shaping the next frontier of nature-based investing.
Jenna Lindbeck: This year's Responsible Investment Report explores the evolution of our natural capital framework as part of our Food and Agriculture portfolio. You bring Max an interesting perspective as a director at Silva Capital as part of our joint venture with C6.
I'm interested to understand from you, Max, the success and momentum you've had at Silva Capital over the last 12 months?
Max Butler: Thanks, Jen. It's been a massive 12 months for us at Silva Capital. The fund has been in existence since July last year and 12 months ago, we settled on our first assets.
Today sitting here now we are on track to plant 1,000 hectares this year and that's a little over 300,000 trees.
During the planting process, we've had incredibly meaningful engagement from our traditional owner counterparties who have been able to involve in our projects and we've been able to reintroduce them to land and country that a presence hasn't been on for years.
So it's been very, very exciting in what we've been able to achieve in such a short and limited time.
Jenna Lindbeck: Thanks Max. And talk us through the genesis of the fund. Who is your target investor?
Max Butler: So to date we've raised money from three different investors, 3 different corporate investors who are Safeguard participants. The Safeguard legislation was established by the government, and it requires Australia's 200 largest emitters to decarbonize in time for to be neutral by 2050.
The way that our fund works is that investors provide us with capital and in exchange we will then distribute out their share of our high integrity environmental planting credits.
Jenna Lindbeck: And looking ahead, what do you think the next frontier of nature-based investing is?
Max Butler: Right now we're seeing a maturity of natural capital and nature-based investing markets.
In particular in Australia this year the nature Repair market was introduced, which is Australia's first biodiversity market which is regulated by the government for our environmental planting projects.
This represents an opportunity to actually stack a biodiversity project on top of environmental planting project, and we were fortunate to be the first project to be registered under this new NRM legislation.
This provides access to more pools of capital who are seeking biodiversity investments, but also the ability to link carbon credits with biodiversity credits to create a more robust investment product.
Jenna Lindbeck: Thanks so much, Max. It's been a pleasure having you and we're looking forward to seeing what Silva gets up to over the next 12 months.
Max Butler: Thanks for having me, Jenna.
