Danish foundation launches biodiversity investment in Southeast Asia

The Copenhagen-based Hempel Foundation launched an impactful investment, initiatively for biodiversity. It made its first investment in two funds backing up sustainable plantation – including one in Southeast Asia.

“This investment aims to contribute to the preservation and restoration of tropical forest,” Hempel said in a statement Monday.

The announcement did not specify the amount that the initiative will administer, though it stated, that the investments will be made in funds involved in tropical forest and biodiversity protection.

“These investments do not only address the biodiversity crisis, but also helps reducing the impact of the climate crisis, by lowering CO2 emissions, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, and helping vulnerable communities to adapt to the climate change,” Hempel further stated.

The Southeast Asian investment will go to New Forests’ Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2 (TAFF2). Its purpose was to capitalize on longterm sustainable forestry in the region.

Launching the TAFF2 fund, New Forest said, it wanted to establish a diversified portfolio of assets in

Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hempel’s executive director, Anders Holm, specified that the foundation screened more than 40 funds before choosing which one to back.