The Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO) has successfully established a partnership to invest $20 million into afforestation, following the $50 million investment from Rabobank last year. On June 3, AFoCO (Executive Director Park Chongho) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with London-based Climate Asset Management for the “carbon credit afforestation project in Asia.”
Last September, Executive Director Park Chongho visited Climate Asset Management headquarters in London to share AFoCO’s new strategy and 10-year climate action plan, discussing potential investment and cooperation. With this partnership, AFoCO and Climate Asset Management plans to invest $20 million into afforestation projects (28 billion won) over the next five years for all member countries, aiming to restore landscapes and generate carbon credits.
Climate Asset Management’s investors represent the world’s leading corporates committed to financing the net zero transition, highlighting AFoCO’s growing influence in the international community and its connection with global companies. This investment is significant as it brings to fruition the AFoCO 10- year climate action plan promoted by Executive Director Park Chongho since his inauguration in 2023.
AFoCO intends to pursue a landscape scale afforestation programme across Laos and Cambodia starting in 2024, with plans to expand to other AFoCO member countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Executive Director Park Chongho stated, “Under the Paris Agreement, the international community is striving to effectively respond to climate change. AFoCO will discover cooperative projects in forest restoration, community participation, and digital innovation under the new strategy and climate action plan to contribute to each member country’s reforestation, achievement of climate goals, and carbon neutrality.”
Viviana Lujáan Gallegos, Head of Nature-Based Carbon Strategy, said, “We are pleased pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations, following our participation in the 10th AFoCO General Assembly held in Kyrgyzstan last April”. Caroline van Tilborg, Senior Carbon Investment Manager said “AFoCO is an important partner of Climate Asset Management across Asia and we are committed to working together to finance nature-based carbon projects that benefit nature, people and our plant.”
Climate Asset Management was formed in 2020 as a joint venture of HSBC Asset Management and Pollination, with the ambition to grow the world’s leading asset management company dedicated to natural capital. It aims to provide investment solutions that are good for nature, people, and our planet. Climate Asset Management’s investment strategies seek to work across landscapes to build resilience whilst generating returns. Through its Natural Capital Strategy, it aims to deliver attractive, long-term risk return outcomes and create impact at scale by protecting and restoring vital biodiversity. Through its Nature Based Carbon Strategy, it aims to unlock the supply of high impact carbon credits for corporates and investors seeking to achieve net zero.
AFoCO is an international intergovernmental organization established in 2012 to respond to climate change, promote sustainable forest management, and strengthen forestry cooperation. Sixteen Asian countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Kazakhstan, are members. In February, AFoCO launched the Friends of Asia and Asian Forests (FAAF) initiative to explore sustainable development and climate solutions for Asia’s forests and strengthen cooperation with the private sector
