Climate Impact Partners announced that it has partnered with Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc, joining forces on a large-scale afforestation and restoration project in Colombia.
As part of this collaboration, Aviva Investors is funding the development of the Llanos Vivos project, which is led by &Forest and Climate Impact Partners.
Situated in the Vichada region of Colombia’s eastern plains within the Orinoquía, the Llanos Vivos initiative is setting out on a mission to create a forest area the size of Paris on locations where land is currently degraded.
Spanning across up to 13,600 hectares of under-productive grassland, the project will focus on afforestation activities to restore these territories back to vitality.
Under the partnership, Climate Impact Partners is the originator of the project and delivery partner to Aviva Investors, providing ongoing management across the area. The funding for Llanos Vivos will come from Aviva Investors’ Carbon Removal Fund.
&Forest, on the other hand, as a specialist forest project developer, will act as an on-the-ground implementation partner.
In its initial phase, Llanos Vivos is expected to sequester 2.4 million tonnes of CO2, generating high-integrity carbon removal credits. Once completely operational and working at full scale, the project will have the potential to sequester more than 6 million tonnes of carbon over its lifespan.
Besides delivering this substantial climate-positive impact, the project will also create employment opportunities for local communities. During peak planting seasons, Llanos Vivos will have 110 active local jobs, including roles in planting, machinery operation, nurseries, and long-term forestry management and protection.
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The project will allocate dedicated areas of land to community-run farms, supporting local food production, skills development, and livelihoods. It will also contribute to natural regeneration across the wider landscape, creating ecological corridors and planting a mix of native species.
In the long run, the restored forest is expected to be designated as conservation land, securing the permanence of the forest and its CO2 removal results.
Climate Impact Partners CEO Sheri Hickok said, “Through this partnership with Aviva Investors, we’re showing how long-term capital can directly support the development of high-integrity, nature-based carbon projects—providing the certainty projects need and the durability investors demand.”
On behalf of &Forest, Managing Partner Johan Larsson shared the company is very excited to partner with a leading investor and carbon market project expert, adding, “The financing of carbon removal enables us to implement this kind of high-impact forestry project in remote areas where traditional forestry projects are not viable, thus bringing benefits and opportunities to communities in these regions.”
Greta Talbot-Jones, Director, Natural Capital, and co-Portfolio Manager of the Carbon Removal Fund at Aviva Investors, stated, “This is a great example of investment activity that can generate long-term outcomes for investors and help them align with long-term climate ambitions, whilst also delivering a range of socioeconomic and nature-based benefits.”
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