Paris-based private infrastructure firm Ardian is partnering with French reforestation operator aDryada to launch Averrhoa Nature-Based Solutions.
The strategy is set to finance projects that restore forests, wetlands and mangroves for carbon sequestration. Ardian will deploy around €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) worth of project and capital worldwide, with a focus on emerging markets and developing economies.
“Ardian aims to be a world leading investor in nature restoration projects. In line with the Paris Agreement’s objective to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C by 2050, our projects will make an important contribution to capturing around 5Gt per year of unavoidable carbon emissions by that date,” said Mathias Burghardt, member of the Executive Committee and head of Infrastructure at Ardian, which manages $150 billion across private markets.
The Averrhoa Nature-Based Solutions’ strategy meets the criteria of an impact fund with the aim of reducing global GHG emissions, in accordance with article 9 of the European SFDR regulation. The fund will be managed by Ardian France, with aDryada acting as advisor.
According to Ardian, the voluntary carbon credit market is expected to grow in the decades to come because of the need to rapidly increase the planet’s sequestration capacity. Global demand for voluntary carbon credits, they said, has already quadrupled over the past five years.
Laurent Fayollas, deputy head of Infrastructure at Ardian, added that the firm expects to invest in long-term forest, mangrove and wetland restoration projects that would enable the sequestration of roughly 150 million tons of carbon.
“Ardian continues its pioneering commitment to the energy transition with Averrhoa Nature-Based Solutions, which benefits from the experience of Ardian’s infrastructure team in investing in climate action and the energy transition, and that of aDryada in developing projects related to biodiversity and the energy transition,” Fayollas said.
