Investment manager New Forests said it had raised some A$450m (€410m) from Australian and European institutional investors at the first close of its Australia New Zealand Landscapes and Forestry Fund. The fund is targeting an overall size of A$600m, which New Forests hopes to reach within the next year. David Shelton, New Forests’ managing director, Australia and New Zealand and global head of investments, said investment in the forestry and land use sectors was a crucial in creating a pathway towards net zero. Shelton said the fund still had a core focus on forestry, because most of its investor clients still wanted to invest in a forestry fund, but the fund’s structure gave it flexibility to transition some land between forestry and sustainable agriculture, or to acquire agricultural land in response to a particular price trend.