Our History

Building on lessons learned for greater impact

2008

The Danone Fund for Nature

Danone, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) created the Danone Fund for Nature with the following objectives: restoring degraded ecosystems, redeveloping local economies and combating climate change.

Danone was convinced of the necessity to invent a new model that would provide companies with a hands-on approach to sustainability. Rather than just offering them to simply buy carbon credits to offset their emissions, Danone imagined a model that would enable companies to work directly with project developers, in order to co-design projects that deliver strong social and economic impacts in addition to yielding high-quality carbon credits.

2008
2011

The Livelihoods Carbon Fund (LCF)

Following the success of a mangrove restoration project in Senegal—the world’s largest mangrove restoration program to date—Danone decided to open the fund to new investors for even greater impact. The Danone Fund for Nature thus evolved into an independent entity in 2011, rebranded as the Livelihoods Carbon Fund. Nine other companies have since joined this fund: Schneider Electric, Crédit Agricole S.A., Michelin, Hermès, SAP, CDC Climat, La Poste, Firmenich, Voyageurs du Monde.

More about LCF

2011
2015

The Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (L3F)

Building on the lessons learned with the Livelihoods Carbon Fund, a second investment fund was launched in 2015: the Livelihoods Fund for Family Farming (Livelihoods 3F). Its mission remains the same: restoring ecosystems in order to sustainably improve the incomes and livelihoods of rural communities. However, its investors obtain returns that go beyond carbon credits. The main goal of this second fund is to help companies sustainably transform their supply chains with smallholder farmers. L3F investors include Danone, Mars, Firmenich and Veolia.

More about L3F

2015
2017

The Livelihoods Carbon Fund #2

Strongly motivated by the results achieved under the initial Livelihoods Carbon Fund launched in 2011, Crédit Agricole, Danone, Firmenich, Hermès, Michelin, SAP, Schneider Electric & Voyageurs du Monde renewed their commitment and decided to launch a new Livelihoods Carbon Fund to accelerate their climate action & improve the lives of the most vulnerable populations at larger scale. Committed to reach carbon neutrality by 2025, Eurofins joined the Livelihoods Carbon Fund #2 in 2019.
With a target of 100 million euros, the Livelihoods Carbon Fund #2 aims at improving the lives of 2 million people and avoiding the emissions of up to 25 million tons of CO2 over a 20-year span.

More about LCF2

2017
2021

The Livelihoods Carbon Fund #3

Capitalizing on a 10-year track-record with corporate investors, Livelihoods created a 3rd Carbon Fund to help corporates, financial investors and cities accelerate climate action and deliver social impact at scale. With a deployment target of €150 million and the aim to improve the lives of 2 million beneficiaries in developing countries, this new fund will invest in community-based solutions for the restoration of natural ecosystems, agroforestry, and regenerative agriculture.

Learn more about LCF3

2021