CEFC, Aviva Investors partner to afforest Tasmanian wetlands

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is partnering with Aviva Investors and Gresham House to invest $142 million in sustainable forestry plantations in Tasmania.

The new Tasmania Natural Asset Trust (TNAT) is an afforestation and natural capital platform to be managed by Gresham House Asset Management (GHAM), with investments from the CEFC, Aviva Investors and Gresham House.

The cornerstone asset for the platform is a 21,745 hectare property in northern Tasmania Rushy Lagoon, a site designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention).

CEFC said this will create local jobs and inject significant capital into the regional economy while generating high integrity Australian Carbon Credits Units (ACCUs) and protecting an important Ramsar wetland.

CEFC head of natural capital Heechung Sung said: "This critical investment converts degraded farmland into a production model that will boost the Australia's forestry industry, create local jobs, support sustainable timber production, introduce sustainable grazing and protect the unique environment."

The project is expected to create more than 190 new jobs over the life of the project and produce approximately five million tonnes of timber and 3.2 million ACCUs.

"It is a demonstration of the power of institutional capital to drive economic development for regional communities while also supporting decarbonisation and positive environmental outcomes," Sung said.

The project will combine commercial softwood plantations on low productive land with large-scale conservation and ecological restoration and sustainable grazing. The Radiata Pine trees produced by the project are expected to be processed locally by Tasmanian-based sawmills and supplied into the Australian market.

This is expected to provide a major boost to Tasmania's forestry industry and alleviate some of Tasmania's wood supply pressures and help divert harvesting away from native forests, CEFC said.

"We think it will be a great example of how our investment activity can deliver long-term investment outcomes, whilst having a positive and real-world benefit on the surrounding habitat and within local communities," Aviva Investors director of natural capital at and co-portfolio manager of the Carbon Removal Fund Greta Talbot-Jones said.

"Working with the CEFC and Gresham House, alongside local land and development partners in Tasmania, gives us clear, direct reporting lines which are vitally important in helping to deliver on our financial and sustainability ambitions to create positive change and long-term value."