“My job is to create impact strategies for those core timberland assets so that they deliver benefits for water, biodiversity, and climate at scale. ”
— Charlotte Kaiser
Traditional timberland investing has historically attracted those with long investment horizons, drawn by its reputation as a solid inflation hedge and ability to deliver cash yields competitive with public equities over the long term.
But imagine investing in forests not just for profit, but as a powerful agent of global sustainability and conservation. It’s a powerful win-win!
This episode is all about impact-driven timberland investments and my guest is Charlotte Kaiser, a visionary leading the charge at BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group (TIG) as the Head of Impact Finance.
After her first job in community development banking in Borneo with a USAID project for the Biodiversity Conservation Network, she moved to The Nature Conservancy, becoming Deputy Managing Director in the creation of NatureVest. Charlotte scaled their impact investment portfolio to over $2.5 billion, focusing on conservation-driven strategies that benefit both people and the planet.
Charlotte now oversees TIG’s $6 billion portfolio, creating impact strategies to hit production objectives, create financial returns, and support water, biodiversity, and climate conservation at scale through their core timberland assets.
We also touch on how Charlotte is spearheading impactful outcomes for ecosystems and communities through strategic alliances with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, all through real asset impact investing, as well as her thoughts on carbon offsets, reforestation and biodiveristy protection initiatives across the continent, and more.
Tune in to learn how Charlotte and TIG are redefining sustainable forestry through impact-driven strategies.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- Connect with Charlotte: LinkedIn
- Charlotte’s Bio
- TIG’s Website
- TIG’s LinkedIn
- NatureVest
- ‘Nature’s Keepers’ Book
SHOW NOTES:
[00:00] Episode introduction
[01:02] Meet Charlotte Kaiser and early interest in conservation
[17:29] Charlotte’s 13-year involvement at The Nature Conservancy/NatureVest
[23:51] Carbon offsets explained & their effectiveness in reducing emissions
[33:03] Strategic partnerships with corporate giants. Is it greenwashing?
[35:45] Charlotte’s transition to BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group
[40:30] The role of traditional forestry in investor portfolios
[45:44] TIG’S impact investing strategy, measuring impact & main risks
[56:34] Sustainable forestry’s role in climate change & biodiversity
[01:01:27] The competitive advantage of sustainable forestry & tech innovation
[01:03:47] Rapid fire questions
MORE CHARLOTTE KAISER QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW:
“If we’re worried about the climate crisis, we should also be worrying about the biodiversity crisis. We’re in the sixth global extinction and our entire global GDP relies on nature. So investing in large-scale, credible, and real nature-based carbon projects is the single biggest way to finance nature protection right now. ”
— Charlotte Kaiser
“What we’re trying to do is protect and restore natural forests and deliver wood products using production forests so that you reduce pressure on those biodiverse native systems and create the wood fire we all need with these production systems. ”
— Charlotte Kaiser
