Bank of Ireland appointed arranger for €5m sale of Woodland Nature Credits

BOI Connacht Rugby sponsorship

(Left to right) John Beckett, Founder, Forestry Partners, Imelda Hurley, Coillte Chief Executive, and Paul Flynn, Chief Operating Officer at Bank of Ireland’s Corporate Banking and Markets division.

 

  • Credits will fund the planting of 1.2 million native trees by The Nature Trust
  • Issuance to be launched in early 2022 following success of inaugural tranche earlier this year
  • First instrument to combine carbon sequestration, biodiversity and public amenity benefits under the EU Taxonomy

7 December – Bank of Ireland has been appointed by The Nature Trust to manage the sale of €5 million of Woodland Nature Credits, an innovative financial instrument designed to help fund the planting of new non-commercial native woodlands.

The Bank developed the funding solution for The Nature Trust, a not-for-profit social enterprise which is a partnership between Coillte and Forestry Partners. The credits connect corporate investment with the establishment of new woodlands that will sequester and store carbon, while also enhancing biodiversity and providing valuable public amenities.

Following the full take up of the first tranche of credits in July of this year, which is funding the planting of 600,000 native trees, the Nature Trust is returning to the market with a second issue which is expected to be launched early in 2022.

Paul Flynn, Chief Operating Officer of Bank of Ireland’s Corporate Banking and Markets division, said:

“The Woodland Nature Credit is a first-of-its-kind instrument that delivers private funding into public natural capital projects. It works by combining the ecosystem benefits of carbon sequestration, biodiversity uplift and amenity benefits into one instrument and the feedback from customers since we brought it to market is that they have not seen anything of its type in Europe. There is growing interest in ESG investment and carbon reporting within the private sector and a role for nature-based solutions in the fight to arrest climate change and biodiversity loss. We are committed to working with customers, colleagues and communities to support the transition to a resilient, net zero economy by 2050 and we believe that innovative products like this one can play their part.”