Our role in the environmental finance sector is to conserve and restore our world’s ecosystems by connecting high-impact conservation projects with responsible finance in the global marketplace.
Learn MoreLestari Capital connects markets to conservation: we finance outcomes on the ground through ethical and efficient mechanisms, to support the adaptation of more equitable market systems.
Through partnerships with corporates, we help develop and grow sources of demand for conservation projects. Our work ensures that corporate sustainability standards and certifications have verified impact while addressing a critical gap in long-term finance for natural ecosystem conservation and restoration.
We are piloting this approach in Indonesia by developing a portfolio of high-impact conservation projects that we have connected to financing from the commodities sector, with funding commitments for 25 years or longer.
Our first mechanism, the Sustainable Commodities Conservation Mechanism (SCCM) was launched in 2018 and can accommodate a blend of public and private capital, providing a flexible platform that can facilitate compliance with the requirements of existing or future standards for environmental finance.
Our vision is a world where no ecosystem is left stranded and where every natural area is recognized for its unique value.
We support collective efforts to weaken the market drivers of unsustainable land-use change, along with efforts to redefine market rewards for companies that actively help protect and restore vulnerable ecosystems.
By supporting a large-scale adaptation of market systems through our mechanisms, we aim to fundamentally change the cost and benefit of doing business for sectors that impact vulnerable ecosystems.
For corporate actors, this means mitigating and, where stakeholders demand it, compensating for past environmental impacts. For conservation partners, enables them to secure reliable finance to sustain their conservation projects. In doing this, we address two critical distortions in global markets, which are represented by each “pie piece” in the Lestari Capital logo.
We are an advocate and change agent for ecosystems; including the communities that rely on them, and those working to protect them.
We show that equitable market mechanisms can deliver lasting conservation outcomes.
We seek ethical participation of the private sector in conservation.
We seek to foster a holistic understanding of land use from the market to the ground, rooted in transparency.
Our interdisciplinary background in conservation and finance leads us to recognize the importance of verified conservation outcomes.
Our work to promote efficient private sector investment in conservation does not, and never will, support or endorse “cut and pay” systems.
We acknowledge and defend the rights of the local communities that depend on our world’s ecosystems.
A uniquely interdisciplinary team of conservation, market and finance professionals.
Learn MorePedro Moura Costa is an expert and entrepreneur in market mechanisms for dealing with environmental services, particularly in relation to greenhouse gas emission reductions, environmental services, forestry, and circular economy. Pedro is the CEO of Sustainable Investment Management (SIM), a fund management company focused on sustainability, and also the founder and director of BVRio - Rio de Janeiro’s Environmental Exchange, an organisation aimed at promoting market mechanisms to facilitate compliance with environmental laws, including a Responsible Timber Exchange, the Circular Action Hub, and the 3R Initiative. Formerly, Pedro was the founder and President of EcoSecurities Group Plc, the world leader in carbon trading and clean energy investment, listed in the AIM London Stock Exchange. Dr Moura Costa holds a PhD from University of London, is an Honorary Research Associate of the Smith School at Oxford University, and has published over 100 articles and books on greenhouse gas mitigation and carbon trading, including as a Lead Author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that were recognised with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
Gabriel has been leading work in the climate and forestry sector in Southeast Asia since 2005. He specializes in creating market-driven solutions to conservation, ecosystem restoration and community forestry initiatives. He and his partners have overseen the growth of the SCCM from inception until today. As a co-founder and former Managing Director of Forest Carbon, Gabriel has worked on and designed some of the first ever projects and technical approaches to project, jurisdictional and national climate and forestry initiatives in Asia. He has served on numerous technical working groups and committees including the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA), VCS Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ Initiative from which he lends his experience in working on projects in over a dozen countries across Southeast Asia, Central Africa and South America. He has advised the National and Subnational REDD+ programs in Indonesia, Vietnam, Ecuador, Laos and Cambodia, and Laos where he also served as a member of the National Delegation to the UNFCCC. Gabriel holds a BS in Biology from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Economic Policy from the University of Chicago.
Michal leads business development and client outreach with sustainable commodity growers, consumer goods manufacturing and retail sector, drawing on more than 10 years of experience working in the conservation, biodiversity and corporate sustainability space in Southeast Asia. His work in the commodities sector is complimented by his past experience with the Zoological Society of London, Daemeter Consulting in Indonesia and years of field biodiversity conservation experience working with NGOs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Michal sits on numerous technical working groups, including for the RSPO, FSC, and HCSA; a reflection of his strong understanding of the conservation challenges and priorities in Indonesia and the relationships with the commodity sector.
We strive to lead by example through our work, particularly by showcasing how ecosystem services can be equitably financed through market systems.
We also strive to raise the bar for quality conservation and restoration outcome through selection criteria that ensures each project has been developed according to best practices, has been independently audited and is endorsed by participating local communities and government agencies.
At the pilot stage of the SCCM, the processes by which we engage with both projects and private companies will be reviewed by an independent third-party, with the results published and incorporated into our ESG policy. Lestari Capital’s Environmental, Social and Governance Policy (ESG) guides our overall engagement framework, both within the company and with our clients, partners and project portfolio members.
Lestari Capital PTE LTD
5 Westbourne Road
Blenheim
#02-04
Singapore, 138944