In this Canada Day episode, I am joined by Dr. Gary Bull, Professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. In our conversation Gary discusses the fundamentals of fire ecology in the context of Canada’s forests, and how it has changed in recent years. He describes the grand transition – both a paradigm shift in forest management practices in British Columbia and indigenous land reformation. From his deep experience in working with multiple stakeholders in the forest sector, he talks about opportunities and solutions for more resilient forests – that include indigenous and community stewardship, growing markets for ecosystem services and bioenergy and private investment. 

Host: Shauna Matkovich - The Forest Link

Details

00:51

Introduction to Gary Bull and his work

04:01

Summary of the wildfire situation in Canada and BC

07:58

Cause of wildfires in BC and Canada

14:20

Community perceptions on fire-smart forest management

15:19

Bioenergy as a solution

16:35

Resources for wildfire management

18:32

Private capital needed for the “Grand restoration”

21:10

Indigenous rights and forest stewardship

23:52

Production of new markets for wood

26:49

Canada and the Paris Agreement

30:59

Advice for investors, considering investing into forests

[03:22]            Last year, we would see that the wildfires produced three times more emissions than all industrial sources of emissions in Canada.

[12:26]            I think now, the recognition is that especially in these landscapes, the boreal landscapes, and parts of the temperate that we will have to use fire as a management tool.

[14:02 ]           We're going to move into an era of active forest management, not just for producing timber from mills, but for active, for producing, preserving ecosystem health.

[18:32]            I don't think governments will ever be able to find all the money required to do the kind of restoration we want and the kind of things that I'm seeing happening, for example, in Brazil, right now, where investors are coming in offering up private investment capital to help with what I would call the Grand restoration challenge.

[26:31]            And I think first nations are in a great position to lead the conversation, and essentially bring these other stakeholders to the table and say, look, we want jobs too, we want investment too, we want ecosystem health and we think we know how to get there.

[29:16]            And so what this [fire suppression] has led to in Alberta (and people will find this perhaps puzzling to understand) is too much old forests. And so, these old forests are now highly vulnerable to fire.

UBC Faculty of Forestry: https://forestry.ubc.ca/

1. Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
2. Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud                  

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In today’s episode, I am joined by Dr. Stephanie Gripne, Founder and CEO of the Impact Finance Center and Impact Investing Institute. In our conversation Stephanie identifies some primary challenges with raising capital for forests – that is the need to first, raise investors and second – think about what the forest needs. She describes the need for full spectrum capital to address the needs of the forest value chain, and will have you reconsider your thoughts on impact investing – from philanthropic giving to commercial return seeking investors.

Host: Shauna Matkovich - The Forest Link

00:38

Introduction to Stephanie Gripne and her organisation, Impact Finance Center

06:26

Sustainable Forestry Investment Club and how it came to be

11:42

Four parts of the sustainable forestry investment club – identify and educate investors

13:04

Second part – connect capital stewards with community stewards that need the money

13:35

Third part – governmental spending/grants for start ups

14:23

Part four – mainstream 2.0 – retirement programme (invest in forests?)

16:45

Investor profile & education modules via Forestry Investment Club

17:53

Point of difference in how organisation teaches investing

22:00

Explanation of investments with negative 100% loss/return

24:28

Examples of impact investment transactions

29:42

Reverse engineering in an investment strategy

30:22

Early stages of nature-based investment

34:12

Where do you learn about all the regulations – Green Biz Group – series of conferences

36:12

Mainstream 2.0 & future projects & plans

37:40

Actionable advice to investors

[03:36]            You can think of the Impact Finance Center as an investor accelerator, where we grow investors like we grow trees.

[12:50]            There is a really big need globally for us to create investor accelerators, the same way we have the accelerators for entrepreneurs.

[18:17]            The only way to solve this problem is to shift the question from what does the investor want to what does the forest need.

[26:34]            The only way you can heal a river, whether it is a physical river or a river of capital, which is our mainstream and Wallstreet capital is to restore the flow. That is holistically looking at the capital.

[32:22]            We got to get more money to the forests, to the communities in a way that is needed.

[38:03]            You shift power to the forest and the communities, you learn about full spectrum capital, and then you restore the flow of the capital

Impact Finance Center: https://impactfinancecenter.org/

Green Biz Group: https://www.greenbiz.com/

1. Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
2. Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

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In today’s episode, I am joined by Chris Lipton, Head of Timberland Investments and Cristina Hastings, Head of Sustainability at Nuveen Natural Capital. Listen to our conversation, where Chris explains how timberland investment has changed in recent years and Cristina presents the natural capital balance sheet, which supports Nuveen Natural Capital in valuing nature.

“We are not trying to attach a price to nature, we are trying to recognize the value of it, particularly those ecosystems services which are often silent and invisible.”

Host: Shauna Matkovich - The Forest Link

Details

01:22

Overview of Nuveen & TIAA

01:59

Responsible investment

02:52

Natural capital

04:42

Changes in timberland investments

06:11

Locations of investment properties

06:42

Timberland investment strategy

06:55

Diversification of timberland portfolio

07:58

Carbon credit certification

10:10

Nuveen’s natural capital balance sheet

12:52

Lessons from Natural Capital Balance Sheet Pilot

14:49

Data management - databases

16:18

Take away from pilot and natural balance sheet

17:04

Evolving applications

19:02

Methodology of natural balance sheet – four main steps

21:15

Examples of monetary values

22:10

Advice to investors

25:10

Forecast carbon profile

28:30

Info on website & resources

[04:04]             “Growing trees is currently the most efficient and only scalable technology for GHG sequestration and carbon storage that we have.”

[12:03]             “We are not trying to attach a price to nature, we are trying to recognize the value of it, particularly those ecosystems services which are often silent and invisible.”

[15:16]             “The holistic view of the asset will help showcase the resilience that this careful stewardship has built.”

Nuveen Natural Capital: https://www.nuveen.com/global/about-us/our-people/investment-specialists/natural-capital

1. Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
2. Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary,

           IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud     

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

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Today I’m joined by Maria Filmanovic, Co-founder of Abatable. Abatable has developed a platform that enables corporates to access carbon credits from vetted forest carbon projects (among other types of nature-based solutions) and the project developer ecosystem. Listen to our conversation, where Maria explains the various players in forest carbon markets. From Abatable’s extensive market intel, Maria describes what types of forest carbon projects are generating the most demand and provides some thoughts on pricing and risks.

“With the new definition of quality comes potentially more conservative carbon credit estimation […], and for the same implementation costs of these activities, less carbon credits. This means the prices will need to increase for the market at the same time.”

Host: Shauna Matkovich - The Forest Link

01:53

Introduction to Abatable

03:37

Explanation how the ecosystem of players work

05:53

Mentions newsletter Carbon Compass (sectors covered by the voluntary carbon market)

06:16

Demand for carbon credits vs other types of credits

06:43

Explanation of a green fields project (forestation/reforestation)

09:38

Explanation about carbon removals

10:24

Demand for reforestation

11:30

Preference for removal versus avoidance

12:26

Availability of carbon credits deriving from forest projects stack up ot the demand

14:42

Supply and demand issues

17:04

Corporates are forced to look into their ecosystem impact of the supply chain.

19:16

Controversy in the voluntary carbon market

24:52

Explanation of risks and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement

29:06

Actionable advice for investors

[08:11]            “ I think that the market has evolved from myopically looking at carbon and to understanding that through these project activities you can have ecosystem impact that’s been just beyond the carbon sequestration programme.”

[22:45]            “With the new definition of quality comes potentially more conservative carbon credit estimation that will need to occur, and for the same implementation costs of these activities, less carbon credits. This means the prices will need to increase for the market at the same time.”

Abatable: https://abatable.com/

Carbon Compass Newsletter: https://abatable.com/subscribe-to-newsletter/

1. Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
2. Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud      

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

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Understanding, evaluating, and avoiding or mitigating risk is a key component of any investment decision, and for forest assets it is no different. The difficulty lies where investors don’t understand (and often have inaccurate perceptions) of the risks associated with forest assets. Today, we’re joined by Gordon Steward, of Dual – Managing Director of Forestry. In our conversation, Gordon walks us through the ‘supply chain’ if you will of the insurance industry as it relates to his work with forests. He speaks to the most common geographies where forest insurance is prevalent and why, and describes the importance of sound forest management in reducing risk and making your assets more insurable.

Host: Shauna Matkovich - The Forest Link

Timecode

Details

00:07 Introduction to Gordon and Dual 

03:07 How Dual insures forest assets - an NGA

04:09 The effect of climate change & forest fires

09:12 Biggest risks that concern investors

11:00 Fire or risk management plans are crucial

14:21 Carbon investment groups

15:44 Players in forestry insurance marketplace

15:43 Under pressure to make return for investors

21:04 Get the technical underwriting rate back to where it should be

22:58 Insurance classes and loss ratios

27:45 Financial insurance triggers to lessen the exposure to risk when investing in carbon products

28:24 Fire insurance cover

30:40 Legislation to protect nature and Indigenous people’s land rights

32:29 The use of trees

35:19 Final advice

[24:30]            “Forestry is a very what I term spiky business, so it is prone to catastrophic fire losses.”

[32:29]            “The use of trees in so many industries and processes is quite unbelievable.”

[33:05]            “Wood is so strong, and we make composites so strong now, it is stronger than bricks, it is much lighter and it is carbon friendly.”

Dual: https://www.dualgroup.com/

1. Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud
2. Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud      

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

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18:27   “Launching funds is hard.”

22:59   "There is really no substitute for that real hands on experience and expertise."

33:05   "There is a desperate need for more money to go to land use models that have a better impact on the ground both socially and environmentally."       

Restoration Seed Capital Facility: www.restorationfacility.org/

The Forest Link: https://theforestlink.com/

Nature by MaxKoMusic/Soundcloud

Sopwell Woodlands and Scohaboy Bog SAC, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, IRELAND by wild_rumpus/Soundcloud

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

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Welcome to Forest Invest. This podcast is for Investment Professionals looking to expand their knowledge on forest investments for profit and impact.

Sign up now for the ForestLink’s newsletter, where you’ll receive technical advice, reflections, and best-practice guidance to support you with your forest-linked investment strategy or business straight to your inbox.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.