The COP Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes (AARL) reported $9 billion in commitments to support regenerative practices at COP30 last week — a fourfold increase since the organization formed just two years ago.
AARL was founded to support conservation and land restoration, while creating “integrated solutions to deliver resilient agrifood systems,” the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) shared in a press release. The organization was founded by the Boston Consulting Group, the COP28 President, and WBCSD, with support from UN Climate Change High-Level Champions.
Since its founding at COP28, AARL has expanded from 25 to over 40 organizations, including agtech and consumer packaged goods companies, commodity traders, financial institutions, retailers, and others, the WBCSD shared. Initiatives with 10,000 hectares or more now account for 52% of the projects — up from 38% since the launch — and 40% of the programmes have three or more partners.
The proposed $9 billion worth of commitments are projected to cover 210 million hectares, reach 12 million farmers in over 90 commodities and 110 countries by 2030, WBCSD stated.
“The $9b+ dollars committed to regenerating agri-food landscapes by businesses in the AARL demonstrates the scale of the transition underway in agriculture. The next phase of this initiative will showcase the results these $9b+ can deliver on the ground, and how this investment can de-risk the transition for farmers,” Diane Holdorf, executive VP of WBCSD, shared in a press release.
A $93bn opportunity in restoring Brazil’s rainforest, the Cerrado
Last year, ARRL launched the Landscape Accelerator Brazil (LAB), which focuses on investment opportunities in the Brazilian state of Pará and the Cerrado biome. Cerrado is one of the most biologically diverse savannahs in the world.
LAB research identified a $93 billion investment opportunity with “an average 19% internal rate of return for 610,000 farmers” to restore Brazilian pastures and advance regenerative agriculture on over 50 million hectares of land in the region.
Looking ahead, LAB plans to develop a co-investment platform to deploy $5 billion by 2030, as part of its action plan. Additionally, AARL will use the same accelerator blueprint in new countries, including India, next year.
