Impact in the Forest: Can Business Combat Deforestation?

How did the collaboration begin?

In 2015, WWF, Impact Hub, Ennovent, and Clarmondial (in association with GreenWorksAsia) came together to combine their complementary skills and embark on an ambitious initiative intended to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurial ventures countering deforestation, forest degradation, and climate change, with an initial focus on three Asian landscapes. We jointly secured a grant from Climate KIC for the first phase of the project, a market research and feasibility study.

What is the project about?

We started with a situation analysis in three target landscapes in Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam. We gathered case studies of impactful innovation and identified key actors and their needs to achieve scale. Download our summary report here or view a webinar to learn more about our key findings.

Going forward, we are raising funds for pilot projects in the target landscapes to prototype the solutions proposed in our research project. The program’s ambition is to contribute to the goals of 5.22 M ha forest protection and 55 Mt CO2e emission reductions. If successful, it may be scaled to other tropical forest areas around the world.

What did the program partners bring to the table?

This report is the product of collaboration between four organizations from very different sectors: WWF on the environment, Ennovent on business innovation, Impact Hub on the development of local entrepreneurial communities, and Clarmondial (in association with GreenWorksAsia) on financing for sustainable development.