USAID Green Invest Asia Facilitated Acquisition of Cambodia's First and Only Sustainably Certified Plantation

Located in Kampong Speu province, Grandis Timber cultivates high-quality, low-cost ethical furniture-grade hardwood. The plantation maintains Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, widely regarded as the world's most rigorous and respected forest sustainability certification. Grandis Timber's 3,700-hectare mostly teak plantation provides a rare source of sustainable timber from an emerging economy. Grandis Timber has established strong relationships with local communities and international conservation groups, returning 2,000 hectares of land to the community, building infrastructure, and supporting sustainable energy through biomass sales to local garment factories. The plantation is expected to store, at maturity, near one million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Cambodia's lone FSC forestry operation proves market viability of sustainable large-scale forestry operations in Cambodia and regionally, where less than 6 percent of the world's FSC-certified forests are in Asia. USAID Green Invest Asia played a crucial role in facilitating the investment in Grandis Timber. The organization prepared an investment overview highlighting the opportunity to acquire Grandis Timber, emphasizing Environmental and Social business outcomes and demonstrating how the company's activities contribute to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. USAID Green Invest Asia pitched Grandis Timber to a curated group of potential investors, including the successful acquirer, stressing the business case and modality to continue a sustainable commercial approach. The organization developed and shared a detailed financial model of Grandis Timber's operations, including economic and growth rates, and potential greenhouse gas emission reduction impact and benefits. USAID Green Invest Asia also connected Grandis Timber with suppliers of global fashion corporate H&M, researching the feasibility of piloting sales of sustainable acacia, teak, and eucalyptus wood for use as boiler fuel, sparing natural forests from illegal logging. As a result, Grandis Timber is supplying, on average, 60m3 of sustainably sourced and certified wood for energy use to a garment factory each month.