The Global Environment Facility invests $13.5m in AGRI3 Fund
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has finalised a $13.5 million equity investment in The Sustainable Trade Initiative’s public-private partnership, the AGRI3 Fund, to enable increased finance mobilisation for sustainable agriculture and forest conservation activities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The GEF’s participation in AGRI3 has been secured through Conservation International (CI), a GEF partner agency.
The rapid expansion of agricultural production, driven in part by dramatic increases in human population, has become one of the most powerful drivers of environmental degradation. As more land is cultivated and production is increasingly industrialised, agriculture has contributed significantly to deforestation, habitat loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and soil and water pollution. Governments and businesses, including farmers, have an important role to play in ensuring that adequate and swift action is taken. The transition to a more sustainable, low carbon and climate-smart agricultural system requires significant financing.
This investment made by the GEF, in partnership with Conservation International, supports AGRI3 to achieve its mission of unlocking at least $1 billion in finance towards deforestation-free, sustainable agriculture and land use. The investment will support the fund to increase its capacity to provide guarantees and subordinated loans to commercial banks and other financial institutions to mobilise capital by de-risking and catalysing investment propositions.
The AGRI3 Fund was created by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Rabobank, together with partners IDH and FMO, to support the transition to sustainable agriculture. FOUNT and Cardano Development are the investment advisors for the fund.