Rabobank and UN kick-start $1 billion program for sustainable food production
Rabobank, an international financial services provider, and UN Environment have announced the creation of a new $1 billion fund to finance sustainable agriculture using a combination of public and private funding.
Rabobank, an international financial services provider, and UN Environment have announced the creation of a new $1 billion fund to finance sustainable agriculture using a combination of public and private funding.
The partnership aims to provide grants, de-risking instruments, and credit to clients involved in sustainable agricultural production, processing or the trade of soft commodities who adhere to strict provisions for forest protection, restoration, and the involvement of smallholder farmers.
The program will kick off in Brazil and Indonesia. In Brazil, the partnership is committed to the promotion and, where feasible, the financing of integrated crop, livestock and forestry (ICLF) farming practices on the 17 million hectares of existing arable land under the management of Brazilian farmers financed by Rabobank. This activity is part of the strategic WWF Rabobank partnership. In Indonesia, the program aims to finance replanting schemes for smallholders in partnership with corporate clients. These include forest and biodiversity protection, restoration, and certification of oil palm.
“Our aim is to substantially increase the quality of existing arable land while protecting biodiversity and reducing climate change worldwide. It is clear that a different way of agricultural practices is needed that includes incentives and provisions to protect forest ecosystems and restore degraded lands if we are to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as well as keep global temperature rises to below 2˚C as agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement,” said Rabobank CEO Wiebe Draijer.
“Support from industry leaders like Rabobank is an extremely important first step,” said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment. “We want the entire finance industry to change their agricultural lending, away from deforestation and towards integrated landscapes, which provide good jobs, protect biodiversity, and are good for the climate. Sustainable land use and landscape restoration is also fundamentally about sound investments and good business. We want to speed up this trend so that it becomes the ‘new normal’ for the finance industry.”