March 1, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Stafford Capital Partners announced the successful initial close of its carbon offset and sustainable timber strategy, the Stafford Carbon Offset Opportunity Fund, at $242 million. 

Launched recently in December 2022 with an anchor investment of $114 million (£100 million) from Essex Pension Fund and an ultimate funding target of $1 billion, this Article 9 impact fund is a 20-year, closed-end vehicle looking to invest in afforestation, natural forest restoration, and improved forest management projects in a global scale. 

Additional UK local government pension schemes (LGPS) backing the strategy are Leicestershire and the City and Council of Swansea. 

“It is with great pride that we announce the initial close of the Stafford Carbon Offset Opportunity Fund, a strategy we feel can make a meaningful contribution to the environment and society,” commented Angus Whiteley, CEO, Stafford Capital Partners.

Stafford Capital has a track record of 22 years of success investing in sustainable managed timber plantations – over which time its team has gained extensive experience and gained insight into how forests are a key component to combating climate change. 

For investors who are looking to offset their own carbon footprint, or are looking to diversity their holdings through commercial forestry this fund will be expected to:

~ Provide investments with a sustainably negative carbon intensity profile connected to a reporting framework supporting the wider decarbonization of institutional portfolios.

~ Provide a source of sustainable, low-carbon raw wood materials.

~ Invest in approximately 200,000 hectares of sustainable managed timberland including about 150,000 hectares on which new commercially managed plantations will be established and natural forests planted. 

~ Generate approximately 30 million verified carbon offsets, each equivalent to 1 ton of CO2, to investors. 

“We are very grateful to the investors who have enabled us to achieve this milestone and look forward to making a meaningful contribution to their decarbonisation agenda,” said Whiteley. “Throughout Stafford, we continue to align our products to help address these environmental and societal needs whilst delivering the financial returns our clients seek.”

All told, the main dual objectives of the fund will be: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, while generating returns in the high-single or low-double digits.

“We believe this fund will deliver the important combination of potential financial returns and environmental benefit that is so needed today,” concluded Whiteley. 

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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