Always seeking to offer products that support sustainable development, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is pleased to share the news that Environmental Finance magazine has announced the agency and Terra Global Capital, a U.S-based leading land-use carbon development and investment company, as the recipients of their distinguished Sustainable Forestry Transaction of the Year award. The award specifically recognizes OPIC and Terra Global’s work on the first political risk insurance contract for a Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project in Cambodia.
- Environmental Finance: Sustainable Forestry Deal of the Year
- OPIC press release
- Terra Global press release
The deal is providing Terra Global Capital, who is working to protect large swaths of forest in Cambodia through the sale of offset credits in international carbon markets, with $900,000 in political risk insurance. The project is expected to generate a 30-year income stream to help the government of Cambodia and local community groups fund activities that reduce deforestation. As a result, it will protect 64,318 hectares (158,865 acres) of forest, sequester CO2 emissions, conserve endangered biodiversity and help local communities create jobs.
The award recognizes “excellence in the application of capital markets know-how to addressing the world’s environmental problems” as well as rewarded deals that were “novel, offered the potential for replication, and facilitated the solution of environmental problems using finance and/or market mechanisms.”
Environmental Finance is the leading global publication covering the financial impact of environmental issues on the business community.
For more on OPIC and Terra Global’s project, please click here.
