Environmental Fund of the Year

July 2022

SLM Silva Irish forestry fund has won Environmental Fund of the Year (Europe) at the Environmental Finance Sustainable Investment Awards 2022.

After a rigorous and competitive process, the SLM Silva Fund was selected by a party of independent juries as the winner of the Environmental Fund of the Year (Europe) category.

The SLM Silva Fund is the first-of-its kind institutional European forestry portfolio scaling up “close to nature” forestry, also known as continuous cover forestry (CCF).

CCF retains the permanent presence of some forest cover through the selective felling of trees – instead of the usual process of felling all trees in an area.

The strategy can improve biodiversity, carbon sequestration and resilience to climate change, while delivering stronger cash yield. You can learn more about the economic and environmental benefits of CCF in our white paper Investing in Continuous Cover Forestry.

Launched in 2018 with the backing of the European Investment Bank, the €30 million ($32 million) fund aims to aggregate small, undermanaged forest properties in Ireland into an institutional-scale portfolio.

The majority of European forests are highly fragmented and often undermanaged. With rural depopulation and a lack of economies of scale, private owners increasingly want to exit the industry.

"Across the continent, the lack of active management is hampering the ability of the forest industry to respond to the rising demand for wood needed to meet net-zero goals in the construction and energy industries," – SLM forestry portfolio manager, Darius Sarshar.

SLM has worked to address the problems through applying CCF to forests in Ireland. It has acquired 1,500 hectares of mixed conifer and broadleaved forest.

The fund has begun to implement CCF on over 60% of its properties and plans to cover the remainder over the next five years.

Over the course of its tenure the fund has scored above-target, double digit returns – demonstrating that impact strategies can outperform.

Our approach of aggregating small properties and transitioning them to CCF is paving the way for more institutional ownership of European forestry and higher environmental standards.

You can view the full winners list and write-ups for the Sustainable Investment Awards 2022 on the Environmental Finance website.