Hancock Natural Resource Group, a Manulife Investment Management company, today announced the acquisition of 89,800 acres of forested land in Maine, USA, for carbon sequestration and storage. Manulife indicated that this purchase is part of its integration of natural climate solutions (NCS) with investment decisions to further support its climate action plan. The investment is considered “impact-first”, as the forested land’s primary purpose will be to store carbon. As part of the transaction, Manulife will retain the option to (i) sell any carbon credits generated through carbon offsets from the forested land or (ii) use the carbon removals resulting from the project to meet its own net zero commitments. Manulife’s climate action plan includes directing its investment portfolio to net zero emissions by 2050, reducing its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 35 percent by 2035, and a commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative to guide its targets
For further information or to discuss the contents of this bulletin, please contact Lisa DeMarco at lisa@resilientllp.com.
