Investor Mirova and non-profit Rainforest Alliance have announced a partnership to scale up nature-based solutions focused on regenerative agriculture around the world.

The organisations will use funding from the asset manager’s Sustainable Land Fund 2, launched last year with a target of €350 million, for impact initiatives across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

“By connecting impact investors like Mirova with Rainforest Alliance’s proven on-the-ground impact, we can mobilise private capital for a just, regenerative transition,” said Santiago Gowland, CEO of the Rainforest Alliance.

“This partnership will allow more developers of nature positive projects to access high-quality certification and funding to grow [local] business,” said Anne-Laurence Roucher, deputy CEO of Mirova.

Rainforest Alliance will expand access to its agricultural standard in the partnership’s focus regions. Used in more than 70 countries, the certification shows farmers of coffee, cocoa, bananas, and other commodities are engaging in sustainable practices.

In turn, France-based Mirova will boost availability of its financing options. Last year, UN Environment Programme said investment in nature-based solutions had to almost triple to $542 billion by 2030 annually to meet international targets.

Mirova will draw from Rainforest Alliance’s expertise and presence on the ground to help identify investment opportunities in areas such as regenerative agriculture and agroforestry.

Regenerative agriculture can enhance soil health, carbon sequestration, and water retention, while agroforestry aims to integrate trees into agricultural systems – promoting biodiversity and providing extra income for farmers, they said.

Mirova is one of the more active institutional investors in the nature space, with strategies such as its Climate Fund for Nature and Biodiversity Solutions Equity Fund.

The investor has also repeatedly engaged in biodiversity credits, with its CEO Philippe Zaouati among the members of a UK-France panel aiming to galvanise international markets around them, while the company has invested $6.5 million in credit developer Terrasos.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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