We've hit the ground running, with the launch of a three-year partnership with GE Vernova to support the communities protecting Surian Nagari Forest in West Sumatra, Indonesia. We welcomed our new colleague Widya to lead our growing work in Riau. Plus, we're hiring!

We wish our partners and supporters all the best for a year filled with forests!

GE Vernova was formed in 2023 following the spin-off of General Electric’s energy businesses. With approximately 75,000 employees in roughly 100 countries, GE Vernova is a global energy leader dedicated to providing the safe, reliable, and sustainable solutions necessary to decarbonize the planet and empower local communities.

Fully committed to its mission to “electrify to thrive and decarbonize the world,” GE Vernova views its business as a vital catalyst in the global effort to address the climate challenge and accelerate the energy transition. However, GE Vernova also recognizes the urgency of our planet’s other crisis: biodiversity loss. 

  

GE Vernova’s Electrification Systems business - the team responsible for building the technologies that move and manage electricity from power plants to homes and businesses - wanted to do its part to protect the natural world. They recognized that securing a better future for all required working through strategic collaborations.

  

While the Electrification Systems business has a relatively small direct impact on biodiversity – as its facilities are primarily located in urban centres far from conservation hotspots – the company understands that for its business to thrive, the planet must thrive as well. In its 2021 report The Economic Case for Nature, the World Bank estimated that a collapse of key ecosystem services could decrease global GDP by US$2.7 trillion per year by 2030. On the other hand, protecting nature could increase global annual GDP by US$50-150 billion.

  

Upon learning about the Forest Conservation Fund (FCF), the company was drawn to the cross-cutting, holistic impact of supporting community-based conservation. Protecting tropical rainforests through FCF projects does more than reduce carbon emissions: it conserves critical habitats for endangered species and secures forest-based economies and ecosystem services for local communities.

  

GE Vernova’s Electrification Systems business has chosen to support Surian Nagari Forest, a 3,470-hectare tropical rainforest in West Sumatra, Indonesia. This region is a vital home to endangered tigers, gibbons, and tapirs. For the next three years, GE Vernova’s funding will support community-led forest monitoring and patrols, conservation education, forest-friendly livelihood development, and targeted reforestation. Through this project, the company aims to achieve progress on community-defined social impact indicators including income diversification, access to education, and gender equity, while saving approximately 2,221 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Photo credit Rimba Satwa Foundation.     

Thomas Robisco, Chief Sustainability Officer for GE Vernova’s Electrification Systems business, shared this with FCF earlier this month: “As our customers increasingly look to us for leadership in biodiversity protection, we are responding with high-impact initiatives like our collaboration with FCF.  This collaboration represents bold, collaborative action needed to address our interconnected climate and biodiversity crises. As we work toward our 2030 carbon neutrality goal (scope 1 and 2), we're investing in biodiversity, strengthening community resilience, and demonstrating that business can be a powerful force for environmental restoration."

  

Electricity grids bring to mind connections. At FCF, we are continuously inspired by the connections we are able to make between traditional communities, like those in Surian Nagari, and global companies like GE Vernova. Should you also want to connect your business to nature and forest communities, please don’t hesitate to get in touch !

We're looking for another Widya, to support our projects in Latin America and Africa, and bring on new community-led conservation projects in these regions. The deadline for application is February 22nd. For more information and to see how to apply, please visit the Careers page on our website.