Please note: Participation is in-person and by invitation only. Breakfast will be provided for all participants. If you are interested in joining this event, please contact ashleyerika.bastiampillai@weforum.org.
(The venue is located located 3 minutes away from the PRI Conference)
Deforestation and land use change drive several of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as climate change, food security, biodiversity loss and social impacts on local communities and indigenous peoples. Forest-risk commodities are major drivers of deforestation and are intertwined with lending and investment activities, exposing the financial sector to deforestation-related physical, transition, regulatory and financial risks. At the same time, financial institutions are in a privileged position to help transition high-risk sectors away from deforestation and make a critical contribution to these pressing global challenges. By galvanizing innovation in delivering effective financial solutions in the agriculture sector, lenders and investors contribute to the implementation of climate and biodiversity commitments while strengthening their action in the green finance agenda and getting access to new markets and clients.
There is growing interest from lenders and investors in catalyzing finance towards deforestation and conversion-free (CDF) agriculture. Innovative mechanisms are already being deployed through the Innovative Finance for the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco (IFACC) initiative which was founded to increase capital flow towards DCF agriculture in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.
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This session will explore how capital markets can effectively support the just transition of the agricultural sector while also helping financial institutions to meet their net zero commitments and reversing biodiversity loss.
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IFACC signatories, including asset managers and agribusinesses, will share examples of innovative financial structures that are emerging in South America and successful solutions to enable greater investment in sustainable agriculture business models.
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IFACC staff will present new research on current sources of capital for these business models and the gaps that need to be filled with new sources.
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The group will discuss the main challenges for institutional investors to accelerate investment in these models and how these can be overcome, for example through modest asset allocations that are willing to accept greater risk than the traditional asset classes.