Aviva Investors and Climate Impact Partners have announced a strategic partnership to develop “Llanos Vivos,” a large-scale afforestation and restoration project in Colombia’s Vichada region. Funded through Aviva Investors’ Carbon Removal Fund, the project aims to transform up to 13,600 hectares of degraded grassland into a biodiverse forest roughly the size of Paris.
Located within the Orinoquía, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas, the initial phase of the project is expected to sequester 2.4 million tonnes of carbon. At full scale, Llanos Vivos has the potential to remove more than six million tonnes of carbon over its lifespan, generating high-integrity removal credits.
The initiative is designed to deliver significant socio-economic and ecological benefits, including the creation of over 110 local jobs and the allocation of land for community-run farms. A majority mix of native species will be planted to create ecological corridors, with the forest eventually designated as conservation land to ensure permanence.
“Institutional investment is critical to scaling high-quality carbon removals,” said Sheri Hickok, CEO at Climate Impact Partners. “We’re helping unlock carbon removal as a credible, investable asset class.”
Greta Talbot-Jones, Director of Natural Capital at Aviva Investors, noted: “Investors are increasingly viewing carbon removal strategies as a way to diversify their portfolio and hedge against transition risks.”
Implementation will be managed on the ground by specialist developer &Forest. “The financing of carbon removal enables us to implement high-impact forestry in remote areas where traditional projects are not viable,” said Johan Larsson, Managing Partner at &Forest.
The project is being registered under Verra’s latest VM0047 methodology, ensuring alignment with the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s Core Carbon Principles.
