Ms Imelda Hurley:

When we launched our vision, we were very clear on the ambition of 100,000 ha. We were also very clear in our engagements that there is substantial capital required in order to achieve the 100,000 ha. It will be up to €2 billion in terms of cost between now and 2050. In our engagements, we have been clear that we will need to access capital to do this. That will require two forms of funds. The first fund has already been set up, namely, the Nature Trust, the purpose of which is to deliver new afforestation in terms of native woodlands and to undertake potential nature rehabilitation. The trust will raise money by means of what we call environmental, social, and governance, ESG, or impact investors. These are investors who are not looking for what we call a traditional return and they want to make an impact in terms of what they do.

The second fund is more focused on what we would call traditional, long-term investors-----