This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ENVIRONMENTAL not-for-profit, Greening Australia, has won the backing of impact investment firm Conscious Investment Management (CIM) to deliver biodiverse environmental planting projects across Australia, starting off the with the acquisition of a 755-hectare property in Southern NSW known as Dixieland.
Founded by former Goldman Sachs bankers, Conscious Investment Management last year kicked off a $200 million social housing fund, whose suite of investors included Canberra Airports billionaire Terry Snow.
Greening Australia’s plans for Dixieland – locate in the Snowy Monaro region of Southern NSW about two-and-a-half hours south-west of Canberra – include the planting 140,000 native trees and shrubs on the property in 2025. The planting design focuses on diverse native species endemic to the area and restoration of the property is designed to benefit several nationally-listed woodland bird species, including the Hooded Robin, Diamond Firetail and Southern Whiteface, and will contribute to the recovery of the critically endangered Monaro Tableland Cool Temperate Grassy Woodland vegetation community.
The parties will register the property as an environmental plantings project via the Clean Energy Regulator, with a 100-year permanence period. Greening Australia will act as landowner and project developer and CIM has provided innovative financing for the project with repayments linked to the generation and sale of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) through the environmental planting methodology.
“Typical Snowy Mountains sheep grazing country, the area has a legacy of clearing and has piqued the interest of universities and local and state governments due to its alarming signs of biodiversity loss and vulnerability,” the partners said.
“Restoration of the property will create and link critical habitat for native species whilst storing carbon and delivering co-benefits for the local community. Our partnership with CIM will channel investment into further property acquisitions for biodiverse environmental planting projects like this one, helping scale our vital restoration work through the power of environmental markets,” said Heather Campbell, CEO of Greening Australia.
Casey Taylor, executive director at CIM, said the partnership establishes a scalable framework to support Greening Australia’s mission to restore Australia’s diverse landscapes and protect biodiversity.
“Australia exhibits alarming rates of biodiversity collapse and species extinction. Our partnership with Greening Australia aims to deliver environmental planting projects with a focus on biodiversity and climate resilience and which structurally embed perpetual land custodianship.”
Dixieland marks the second natural capital investment by CIM, having recently provided financing to the Kullilli Bulloo River Aboriginal Corporation to acquire and regenerate a parcel of their native title land in South-West Queensland.
Conscious Investment Management was advised by Kain Lawyers and KPMG, and Greening Australia was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright.
