New Forests launches global natural capital strategy

New Forests has launched its first global natural capital strategy, targeted towards institutional investors.

The launch of the Global Landscape Opportunities (GLO) strategy offers investments across forestry, agriculture, and complementary markets such as carbon and biodiversity.

It will be established in Luxembourg for opportunities across North America, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

The GLO strategy will invest across a broad spectrum of natural capital assets, including sustainable forestry assets, agricultural land and food production systems, carbon and climate-related investments, and biodiversity and ecosystem markets, New Forests said.

New Forests chief executive Mark Rogers said the launch is in response to growing investor demand for institutional-grade, global allocations to natural capital.

"The launch of our Global Landscape Opportunities strategy marks a significant step in the evolution of New Forests as a global natural capital investment manager," he said.

"We are seeing strong investor demand for scalable, institutional strategies that provide diversified exposure to natural capital.

"Natural capital is increasingly recognised as a core component of resilient portfolios, offering the potential for long-term returns while supporting critical outcomes such as climate stability, biodiversity and sustainable land use."

Meanwhile, global head of investments David Shelton said the capital markets increasingly recognise the role of land-based assets to provide returns and diversification.

"Historically, many investors have accessed natural capital through regional allocations, but not all institutions have the scale, resources or expertise to build and manage global portfolios themselves," Shelton said.

"Building on New Forests' regional return performance, this strategy allows investors to access a diversified global portfolio where we actively allocate capital across regions, sectors and markets to optimise outcomes."

The target audience for GLO is institutional investors including pension and super funds, insurance companies, family offices, endowments and foundations, New Forests said.