​USAID Green Invest Asia helps agriculture and forestry businesses in Southeast Asia improve the sustainability and environmental stewardship of their operations by connecting them with like-minded investors and reducing barriers to investment. USAID Green Invest Asia supports the U.S. Government’s commitment to market-driven development, including its Indo-Pacific Strategy to foster private sector engagement on sustainable supply chains.  The commercial agriculture and forestry sector produce at least 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia. Companies are finding ways to sustainably decrease emissions, creating a more than $220 billion investment opportunity for sustainable financing. However, logistical barriers facing both businesses and investors stand in the way of capitalizing on this opportunity. USAID Green Invest Asia partners with businesses and investors alike to overcome these barriers through several approaches.

REDUCING BARRIERS FOR BUSINESSES

USAID Green Invest Asia partners with agriculture, forestry, and other land use companies in Southeast Asia that have at least $2 million in capital needs, profit potential, and a demonstrated commitment to environmental and social stewardship. USAID Green Invest Asia provides these companies with capital matchmaking, technical and business advisory services, access to financing with preferential terms, and/or transaction support, including investment-readiness counsel. The program also works with businesses seeking to “green” their supply chains by helping them adopt low-emissions technologies.

REDUCING BARRIERS FOR INVESTORS

To encourage climate-smart financing, USAID Green Invest Asia builds the capacity of financial institutions to assess the risks associated with different types of land use. The program also helps investors identify low-risk, climate-smart opportunities and conduct due diligence to ensure the environmental sustainability of their investments. These solutions help them meet sustainable financing commitments, expand their business opportunities, and improve the readiness of existing and potential clients to make these kinds of investments.

STRENGTHENING BUSINESS NETWORKS FOR SUSTAINABLE FINANCING

USAID Green Invest Asia taps into existing networks of businesses interested in sustainable financing, thereby encouraging knowledge-sharing and business-to-business networking. Strengthening these relationships is important for the long-term momentum of sustainable financing in Southeast Asia.

IMPACTS AND RESULTS

● USAID Green Invest Asia has already facilitated more than $30 million worth of investments in sustainable teak and rubber in Indonesia and Cambodia, resulting in nearly 8 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (CO2e) to be reduced or equal to annual emissions for almost all of Kentucky’s 1.7 million registered passenger vehicles.
● USAID Green Invest Asia is collaborating with global cocoa processor, Barry Callebaut, to develop the first-ever global sustainable coconut charter to strengthen industry collaboration on sustainable coconut and coconut oil production. These efforts will help mitigate the environmental impact of coconut and coconut oil production and help coconut farmers improve their farm productivity and self-reliance.
● USAID Green Invest Asia is developing a methodology for the Rabobank Foundation, a Dutch organization that invests in the financial self-sufficiency of groups, including smallholder farmers, to measure its portfolio-level carbon footprint. These and other private-sector engagements in USAID Green Invest Asia’s current pipeline are expected to shift more than $100 million of spending into sustainable commodities and direct $190 million into sustainable investments toward a 2022 target of $400 million. Furthermore, it will sequester an estimated 20 million metric tons of CO2e of a targeted 25 million CO2e (approximate emissions from burning 12.5 billion kgs of coal) and improve land use on nearly 275,000 hectares, which is the landmass of more than half a million football fields.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information, please visit www.greeninvestasia.com or info-rdma@usaid.gov