Climate Asset Management (CAM), a joint venture between HSBC Asset Management and climate change investment firm Pollination, has successfully raised over $1 billion to fund natural capital projects. This achievement follows the final close of CAM’s Natural Capital and Nature-Based Carbon Funds, alongside the Restore Fund, which was developed in partnership with Apple. Established in 2020, CAM aims to invest in projects that preserve, protect, and enhance nature over the long term. It offers investors opportunities to engage in global natural capital themes, spanning both developed and emerging markets, while also ensuring that the impact of these investments can be quantitatively measured. The platform currently comprises three funds. Environmental capital funding focuses on investing in real assets, including regenerative agriculture, sustainable forestry and natural resources, in developed markets. A sustainable carbon fund that aims to generate high-quality carbon credits through land restoration and conservation projects. These projects also support climate sustainability, biodiversity and social benefits, especially in developing economies. Finally, the Return Fund, designed in collaboration with Apple, incorporates the strategies of the two aforementioned funds. The fund aims for high-quality returns and carbon credits, and is open to investment from Apple’s supply chain partners. It provides a way to control unavoidable emissions and high-quality carbon removal.
CAM has already begun to use natural resources, and a large part is dedicated to projects that can improve two million hectares of land in the world. Notable projects include a sustainable agriculture project in Australia, a sustainable forestry project in New Zealand, and efforts to promote sustainable farm management practices in Spain and Portugal. One of the most important projects is working with Masai communities in Kenya to restore 900,000 hectares through the introduction of fast-changing grazing practices. Martin Berg, CEO of Environmental Resources Management, emphasized the need to protect the environment, saying that it has been neglected for too long. Berg emphasized the importance of focusing on climate sustainability and diversifying products in the company’s portfolio. He also wrote that CAM has been able to demonstrate the ability to deploy capital in a way that not only achieves investment objectives, but also improves climate outcomes, environment and society, and planning the future.