Restoration Seed Capital Facility

Organizational profile:

The Restoration Seed Capital Facility (RSCF) aims to reverse the loss and degradation of forests, protect and restore tropical forest areas, fight climate change and biodiversity loss and support the creation of sustainable livelihoods. RSCF’s purpose is to promote Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) through the support of impact driven fund managers and investors.

RSCF does this by co-financing the development and establishment of new investment funds and supporting pipeline and project development for existing funds that invest in FLR aligned projects. The RSCF support works on a cost sharing basis. The Facility supports fund managers dedicated to sustainable land use activities that are aligned with the goals of Forest Landscape Restoration.

The facility is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management with funding from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the Luxembourg Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development.

Financing Instrument: Grants, Reimbursable Grants

Project scale:

RSCF provides three lines of pre-investment support on a cost-sharing basis:

Under the Support Line (SL) 1 the Facility supports fund managers in the FLR space during the fund raising and fund establishment phase. It is dedicated to first time fund managers and to existing fund managers who enter the FLR sector providing innovation to the market. Support Line 1 is a conditional grant limited to USD 750,000 which is used on a cost sharing basis to cover fundraising and fund establishment costs. The grant is supposed to bridge the liquidity gap during fund establishment and fundraising until the fund reaches first close.

SL 2 supports fund managers in building a pipeline of early stage FLR aligned investment opportunities on a cost sharing basis. Fund managers are encouraged to assess impactful early-stage project opportunities. SL 2 provides support in conjunction with SL 3 for a total amount of up to USD 2.5 million per partner. SL 2 is a non-reimbursable grant and accounts for 30 % of the total support volume.

SL 3 provides project specific co-financing to bring identified FLR projects to financial close. De-risking of the project development phase is the main objective of SL 3, ultimately unlocking private capital for FLR projects. The support is a conditional grant that is reimbursable and paid back once projects reach financial close.

Please note that SL 2 & 3 are only available in conjunction with each other.

Eligible recipient countries regions/country groups: The facility supports fund managers or investment advisers targeting investments in all ODA-eligible countries, with a focus on Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia.

Recipient categories: Businesses

Eligibility Criteria:

Applicants must be either fund managers or investment advisors to funds, raising a new or managing a current investment vehicle dedicated to sustainable land-use and FLR. The investment vehicle should be focused on forest restoration and protection, combined with sustainable land-use activities, such as:

• Agro forestry and sylvopastoral systems
• Sustainable forest management and sustainable forestry on degraded lands
• Non-timber forest products
• Generation of carbon credits & payments for ecosystem services
• Supply chain investments to support restorative activities

Applicants must also demonstrate robust Environmental and Social Risk Management policies and processes. For more information on eligibility criteria, visit https://restorationfacility.org/support/ 

The Facility cannot provide any form of equity. It does not support stand-alone projects. All Facility support comes as co-financing of partner expenses.

Application guidelines:

Please contact an RSCF Agent with a brief description of your company and the rationale behind your application. The RSCF Agent will then arrange for an initial call to clarify eligibility and address open questions. Subject to the availability of funding, interested parties are invited to submit a proposal.

Depending on the support line, please add the following additional information:
For Support Line 1:

• fund strategy incl. targeted sectors and regions
• fund structure
• current fundraising process
• experience of the management team

For Support Lines 2 & 3, please also share:

• project pipeline
• project development activities offered

Contact email address: info@restorationfacility.org

Last updated: 24 August 2023