Climate Impact Partners has partnered with Aviva Investors to develop Llanos Vivos, a large scale afforestation project in Colombia's Orinoquía region covering up to 13,600 hectares of degraded grassland and capable of sequestering more than 6 million tonnes of carbon over its lifespan. The project, announced on 22 April 2026, will be developed alongside specialist forest developer &Forest and is funded through Aviva Investors' Carbon Removal Fund. The deal matters because it represents one of the larger institutional commitments to nature based carbon removal in Latin America and provides a reference structure for how pension and insurance capital can finance high integrity afforestation projects at scale.

 

The Project Scale and Carbon Outcomes

 

Llanos Vivos spans up to 13,600 hectares of currently degraded and under productive grassland in the Vichada region of Colombia's eastern plains, an area that sits within the Orinoquía, one of the most biodiverse ecological regions on Earth. The total area is approximately equivalent in size to the city of Paris, which gives a sense of the physical scale of the planned forest. The initial phase of the project is expected to sequester 2.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, generating high integrity carbon removal credits. At full scale, the project has the potential to sequester more than 6 million tonnes of carbon over its lifespan.

The location is ecologically significant because the surrounding region remains one of the most biodiverse landscapes on the continent, while the project area itself comprises degraded grassland that has lost much of its original productive and ecological value. By restoring forest cover on this kind of land, the project addresses both carbon removal and ecosystem regeneration without displacing food production or competing with intact natural ecosystems. The use of degraded grassland is also important from a credit integrity perspective because it supports the additionality argument that the carbon outcomes would not have occurred without the project.

 

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The Biodiversity and Community Components

 

The forest will be planted using a majority mix of native species, which is a critical design feature for biodiversity outcomes and long term ecosystem resilience. Native species afforestation supports local wildlife, contributes to the recovery of regional ecological corridors and reduces the risk profile that single species plantations have historically faced from pests, diseases and climate variability. The new forest is also expected to be designated as conservation land once established, which secures the permanence of the forest and the durability of the carbon removal outcomes over the long term.

The project is designed to deliver substantial socioeconomic benefits for local communities. More than 110 local jobs are expected to be created during peak planting seasons, including roles in planting, machinery operation, nursery management and long term forestry oversight. Dedicated areas of land will also be allocated to community run farms, supporting local food production, skills development and rural livelihoods. The integration of livelihood components into the project structure reflects the recognition that durable forest restoration requires the active participation and economic alignment of the communities living in the project area.

 

How the Investment Structure Works

 

Aviva Investors is funding the project through its Carbon Removal Fund, which targets investment returns alongside institutional climate objectives by investing directly in nature based and engineered carbon removal solutions. The fund focuses on restoring degraded landscapes and creating new biodiverse forest systems while generating high integrity carbon removal credits. As part of its investment, Aviva Investors will receive rights to a share of future carbon credits generated by the project, which provides both environmental impact and a financial return tied to the value of the credits over time.

The structure is significant because it positions carbon removal not solely as an impact investment but as a diversifying asset class that can hedge against the transition risks facing other parts of an institutional portfolio. As regulated carbon markets and corporate net zero commitments expand, the underlying value of high integrity removal credits is expected to rise, which means that investments tied to credit generation can offer financial upside as well as climate impact. This dual proposition is increasingly attractive to pension and insurance investors looking for assets with structural alignment to long term climate objectives.

 

The Roles of the Project Partners

 

Climate Impact Partners is acting as the project originator and delivery partner for Aviva Investors, providing ongoing management across the project area. &Forest, a specialist forest project developer, will serve as the on the ground implementation partner responsible for executing the planting, monitoring and forest management activities. This division of responsibility is consistent with how complex nature based projects are increasingly being structured. Specialist developers handle the local execution, while carbon market specialists manage origination, certification and the commercial relationships that connect the project to institutional investors and credit buyers.

Sheri Hickok, Chief Executive Officer of Climate Impact Partners, framed the partnership as evidence of how long term capital can support high integrity nature based carbon projects, providing certainty for project developers and the durability that institutional investors require. Greta Talbot Jones, Director of Natural Capital and co Portfolio Manager of the Carbon Removal Fund at Aviva Investors, emphasised that investors are increasingly viewing carbon removal strategies as a way to diversify portfolios and hedge transition risks. Johan Larsson, Managing Partner at &Forest, highlighted that carbon removal financing enables high impact forestry projects to operate in remote areas where traditional commercial forestry would not be viable.

 

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The Certification and Integrity Framework

 

Climate Impact Partners will register the project under Verra's latest afforestation and reforestation methodology, known as VM0047, which is approved under the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market's Core Carbon Principles label. This certification framework is among the most rigorous available for afforestation projects and is specifically designed to address concerns that have affected earlier generations of nature based credits, including issues around additionality, permanence and accurate measurement.

Registration under a methodology endorsed by the Integrity Council is commercially significant because it improves the marketability of the resulting credits with corporate buyers and institutional investors. The voluntary carbon market has been under increasing scrutiny over the integrity of credits, and registration under the most recent and most rigorous frameworks is becoming a baseline expectation for high quality nature based projects. For the Llanos Vivos project, the certification approach supports both the credibility of the climate outcomes and the long term value of the credits generated.

 

What the Project Signals for Institutional Carbon Removal

 

The wider significance of the project is what it indicates about how institutional capital is engaging with nature based carbon removal. Earlier generations of carbon market activity were dominated by smaller scale projects funded by corporate buyers seeking to offset emissions. The current generation increasingly involves direct investment by institutional asset managers in project equity and credit rights, with the credits used either to deliver to corporate offtakers or to generate financial returns through market sales.

For the broader nature based solutions market, the deal demonstrates that large scale afforestation projects in regions such as Latin America can attract institutional finance when paired with specialist project developers, robust certification and clear social and ecological design features. The performance of Llanos Vivos over the coming years, measured by survival rates, sequestration outcomes, biodiversity recovery and community impact, will help shape how investors evaluate similar projects in other regions of the world.

 

Source: Climate Impact Partners