The BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group’s mission is to sustainably manage the world’s timberland.
Putting these words into action is a journey that demands continuous evolution and innovation to unlock enhanced climate, social and environmental impacts, while continuing to seek attractive returns for our investors.
The second year of COVID-19 continued to present challenging circumstances for our team, our investors, and the communities where we operate in both North and Latin America. As we continued to navigate these impacts, the pandemic focused global attention on the major challenges of biodiversity loss, global inequity, and the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change.
Against this backdrop, 2021 saw a sharpened recognition of the importance of investment in climate and nature as the private sector seeks to actively address urgent threats to climate stability, human development, and biodiversity. We are very proud to have launched two major new collaborations that each point a new way forward.
The first was an agreement with The Nature Conservancy that seeks to enhance climate action and conservation outcomes in the U.S. on more than 587 thousand acres out of TIG’s nearly 3 million acre global timberland portfolio. The second is a collaboration with Conservation International to serve as an impact adviser for our new impact-oriented reforestation investment strategy in Latin America. While these represent slightly different approaches, they share a common goal of aiming to deliver significant climate, environmental and social benefits at a large scale, alongside financial returns. You can learn more about each in this report.
As part of a broader mission to help investors better understand new impact opportunities, we participated in a number of events, forums and initiatives to inform and shape the narrative around the positive role that sustainable forestry can play as a natural climate solution. We hosted an event at COP26 with The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International on the role of sustainably managed forests in combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and supporting local communities and livelihoods. TIG was also featured at the UNDP’s Nature Hub during New York Climate Week; we helped organize a panel at the World Forestry Center’s annual Who Will Own The Forest Conference on carbon‑focused forest investment; and we spoke at a number of events including the Financial Times’s Investing for Good USA Conference and BusinessGreen’s Net Zero Nature event. In addition, research on the impact of mass timber utilization on climate and forests supported by TIG and a number of other partners was published in a special issue of the scientific journal Sustainability.
TIG is proud to be a founding member of the Forest Investors Club, launched by Secretary John Kerry at COP26 – a network of public and private financial institutions committed to raising the scale and scope of investments in restoration, conservation, sustainable forestry, and green infrastructure. We also joined the WBCSD’s Forest Solutions Group to contribute to the work being done there to grow an inclusive circular bioeconomy that is rooted in thriving working forests.
2021 was also a year of growth for TIG, with an expansion into Chile and the launch of Vista Hermosa, a company sustainably managing 80,500 acres of commercial timberlands. Vista shares our commitment to sustainability and our desire to innovate new approaches to unlock additional benefits for people and the planet. We also acquired 110,000 acres in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., expanding our presence in this critical region and opening new opportunities.
This report seeks to improve our stakeholders’ understanding of our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance related to the timberland assets managed by TIG and our portfolio companies.