Nature-based solutions and the Rimba Collective: delivering conservation at scale

Nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a critical tool in tackling sustainability challenges, enhancing biodiversity, and improving livelihoods. These solutions align natural ecosystems with the goals of climate resilience, corporate sustainability, and the protection of vulnerable communities. The Rimba Collective, part of Lestari Capital, stands as a prime example of how NBS can be applied on a large scale to achieve transformative results.

This webinar, featuring experts from the Rimba Collective, Lestari Capital, Unilever and PepsiCo delved into real-world applications of NBS, exploring how companies can collaborate to deliver long-term, scalable impact. With a focus on protecting and restoring forests, participants emphasised the importance of collective action, innovative financing models, and long-term commitments in building resilient supply chains and ecosystems. For NBS to be transformative, they must be embedded in a company's core sustainability strategy rather than treated as an optional or peripheral measure.

Read The Rimba Collective Progress Report here

Introducing the Rimba Collective: 2022–2024 Progress Report

The Rimba Collective is designed to finance conservation and restoration projects in supply-based areas over the long term. With a focus on scaling efforts across multiple regions, the initiative supports corporate sustainability targets related to climate, biodiversity, and livelihoods. By working with local communities and NGOs, the Rimba Collective demonstrates how companies can implement tangible nature-based solutions, addressing global environmental challenges while meeting the evolving demands of stakeholders. This initiative is funded by four Founding Partners, two of which were represented on the webinar.

The Rimba Collective, managed by Lestari Capital, is one of the largest conservation financing mechanisms globally, with a focus on long-term sustainability. It supports projects aimed at conserving critical ecosystems and benefiting local communities, promoting biodiversity and climate resilience.

During the webinar, the latest progress report was unveiled, highlighting significant strides made in monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), legal frameworks, and operational frameworks. These systems ensure that nature-based solutions remain credible and impactful.

Achievements and Milestones

As the Rimba Collective enters its third year of operations, it has already achieved significant milestones:

224,000 hectares of forest conservation and restoration.
16 active projects, with more under validation.
$14 million in funding delivered to project operators.
Aiming to improve the livelihoods of 12,000 forest-dependent households and protect 89 endangered species.

These outcomes are attributed directly to the Rimba Collective’s financing model, which integrates biodiversity conservation with community benefits, ensuring long-term sustainability.

What companies look for in nature-based solutions

Integrated sustainability efforts: Companies participating in NBS, such as PepsiCo and Unilever two of the four Founding Partners of the Rimba Collective, seek projects that connect sustainability initiatives to their supply chains. Successful NBS efforts address environmental concerns while delivering long-term, holistic benefits for people, climate, and nature. PepsiCo emphasised the importance of incorporating NBS into broader sustainability strategies to improve farm resilience and supply chain sustainability. Unilever stressed embedding sustainability into the core business strategy, ensuring supplier involvement, and fostering transparent reporting to drive accountability.
Sourcing forest-risk commodities: NBS are particularly useful when sourcing forest-risk commodities, such as palm oil. NBS help to scale sustainable commodity production and are a fundamental component of protecting the livelihood of the people in the areas where commodities are sourced.
Transparent reporting and holistic outcomes: Clear and transparent reporting helps align business goals with broader sustainability objectives, promoting accountability. Companies also aim for outcomes that go beyond corporate commitments, focusing on biodiversity protection, ecosystem restoration, and community engagement. Involving indigenous people and local communities in project implementation was seen as crucial for success.
Collaboration and co-financing: Unilever’s Martin Huxtable highlighted the importance of leading by example and building partnerships across sectors. Through their climate and nature fund, they collaborate with civil society and the finance sector to seek co-financing opportunities, which amplifies the impact of sustainability initiatives. For companies such as PepsiCo and Unilever, NBS are integral to building resilient supply chains. As reported by Emily Kunen, PepsiCo relies on over 35 different crops sourced from more than 60 countries, and NBS are essential to ensuring the long-term sustainability of these supply chains. Unilever has set ambitious goals, such as protecting and restoring a million hectares of natural ecosystems and expanding regenerative agriculture.

Challenges in scaling nature-based solutions

Economic and regulatory pressures: The webinar highlighted the challenges of scaling NBS, such as economic pressures faced by local communities and NGOs, and the complexities of meeting evolving stakeholder expectations. Regulatory changes also pose challenges, as companies must ensure they align with new requirements.
Improving MRV: Advancements in MRV frameworks were discussed, but companies are still striving to better understand the impact they are having on biodiversity, soil health, and other environmental factors. Combining technology with on-the-ground engagement is essential for improving MRV approaches.

What makes the Rimba Collective unique?

The Rimba Collective stands out as a large-scale NBS initiative that involves leading consumer goods companies such as Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble. These companies share responsibility for linking their commodity purchases to positive ecosystem outcomes, addressing sustainability challenges collaboratively. It bridges the gap between corporate sustainability goals and tangible action, demonstrating how NBS can work at scale.

Credibility and integrity: The Rimba Collective emphasises credibility by subjecting its projects to third-party validation and verification based on international conservation standards. This ensures transparency and trust among partners and stakeholders.
Long-term commitments: Unlike short-term carbon credits, the Rimba Collective secures long-term off-take agreements for ecosystem services over 25 years. This model incentivises project operators to stay committed to achieving long-term biodiversity and livelihood outcomes. The Collective's approach focuses on building resilience and ensuring projects can recover from setbacks such as encroachment or fires.
Simplifying the pathway: The Rimba Collective helps to drive impact at scale by streamlining the process for corporations and brings capability to collectively introduce good governance. The element of shared responsibility spreads and mitigates risk, making it easier for companies to tackle the key sustainability challenges collectively. It allows companies to meet their own goals, whilst also collaborating on the larger sustainability challenges and being a part of the wider picture of their sustainability mission
Innovation hub: As Martin Huxtable emphasised, the Rimba Collective serves as a powerful platform for innovation. It's not only innovative in itself but also provides the space for ongoing innovation within its structure. For nature-based solutions to thrive, we need to develop innovative models within existing frameworks. The Rimba Collective enables this by leveraging the collective expertise and knowledge of all its partners, fostering continuous improvement and fresh approaches.

The future of nature-based solutions

Monitoring and verification: In the next 5–10 years, MRV frameworks will play a crucial role in helping companies prove their environmental impact and build resilience in supply chains. Demonstrating tangible outcomes will attract more investment and expand the scale of nature-based initiatives.
Scalability and collaboration: The webinar speakers expressed optimism about the scalability of initiatives like the Rimba Collective. With more companies and governments joining efforts, there is potential for exponential growth in NBS. However, action needs to be taken now, rather than waiting for perfect data or accounting standards.
Regulatory developments: International frameworks and evolving regulations will shape the future of NBS. Companies will need to adapt their strategies to align with regulatory expectations, especially in carbon markets and environmental credits.

Conclusion: collective action for a resilient future

Looking ahead, the Rimba Collective aims to scale from a quarter of a million hectares to over half a million by 2026, with a longer-term goal of reaching one million hectares. Achieving these ambitious targets will require enhanced MRV frameworks, a pipeline of scalable projects, and new partnerships with donors, philanthropists, and investors. Lestari Capital will to engage the wider market on the benefits that are now demonstrable in the Progress Report and identify the future opportunities for further expansion of the Collective, seeking like-minded organisations.

The Rimba Collective is a leading example of how nature-based solutions can bridge the gap between corporate sustainability goals and real-world impact. Through collaboration, co-financing, and innovative governance, it enables companies to meet sustainability targets while contributing to global conservation efforts.

As companies, such as the Rimba Collective’s four Founding Partners prioritise nature’s resilience, there is hope that more organisations will join this movement, driving large-scale change across landscapes and supply chains. With collective efforts, NBS can pave the way for a more sustainable future for businesses and the environment.