Major Australian philanthropic organisation Minderoo Foundation had long been exploring opportunities to support positive environmental and social outcomes through impact investing in Indonesia.
Minderoo’s Senior Advisor, Impact Investing, Regina Rao, said the Foundation was interested in opportunities supporting the “missing middle” – businesses that are too large for microfinance but too small to attract major institutional investors – particularly in the sustainable land use and agriculture sectors.
However, assessing opportunities in a market without an established local presence brings practical challenges.
“Minderoo Foundation is based in Australia,” Ms Rao said at the Indonesia Impact Investment Summit 2026 in Jakarta. “We don’t have any offices in Indonesia.”
This made access to local expertise, market knowledge and experienced investment partners particularly valuable.
Regina Rao, from Minderoo Foundation, at the Indonesia Impact Investment Summit. Photo: JEFRI TARIGAN
One opportunity that emerged was the Asia Climate-Smart Landscape Fund (ACLF), an impact fund managed by private credit manager ADM Capital that finances Indonesian companies in the agriculture, agroforestry and forestry sectors.
“When ACLF came along, we’re like ‘great, this is a perfect opportunity’,” Ms Rao said.
In 2025, Ms Rao visited Big Tree Farms in Kalirejo in Java, a business financed by the Asia Climate-smart Landscape Fund, as part of the KINETUIK-supported DFAT International Development Investor Group study tour. Big Tree Farms buys coconut nectar and raw coconut sugar from more than 10,000 Indonesian smallholder farmers.
Ms Rao described standing in the jungle watching women produce the coconut sugar, gaining a first-hand understanding of how the business operates and supports local livelihoods.
“Seeing everything with my own eyes made our work make sense,” Ms Rao said on the panel Mobilising Climate Capital and Inclusive Growth, which was hosted by KINETIK.
A coconut farmer taps sap – which is used to make coconut sugar – in Kalirejo, Java. Photo: JEFRI TARIGAN
“The impact alignment from ACLF is compelling for Minderoo. “It touches on both climate resilience, protecting the natural ecosystem, gender equality, improving livelihoods,” Ms Rao said, highlighting the range of environmental and social outcomes relevant to Minderoo’s assessment of the opportunity.
Another important consideration was ADI Climate Partners, a new investment vehicle supported by KINETIK.
ADI Climate Partners is designed to make it easier for Australian foundations and family offices to invest in Indonesia alongside the Australian Government’s international impact investment fund, Australian Development Investments (ADI).
By pooling smaller investments into a single vehicle, ADI Climate Partners helps reduce costs and barriers that might otherwise discourage investors from entering the Indonesian market.
Through ADI Climate Partners, the Australian Government and Australian philanthropic investors – including Minderoo Foundation – have committed a combined USD 16.65 million to the Asia Climate-Smart Landscape Fund.
Australian Embassy First Secretary Climate Finance Laura Phillips, Investment Manager at Sarona Asset Management Shameek Patel, Managing Director, Sustainable Finance at ADM Capital Lisa Genasci, Minderoo Foundation Senior Advisor, Impact Investing Regina Rao and KINETIK Head of Innovative Financing and Transactions Tom Coulter. Photo: JEFRI TARIGAN
“ADI Climate Partners was set up specifically to mobilise private capital,” said Shameek Patel, Investment Manager at Sarona Asset Management, the investment manager for Australian Development Investments (ADI).
Mr Patel said ADI provided first loss capital, which means ADI agreed to absorb an initial portion of any investment losses, reducing the risk for philanthropic co-investors.
“This is one of the first interventions of its kind in the market,” he told the panel, adding that it provides a model to build on for future transactions.
For Minderoo, the ability to access due diligence conducted by Sarona Asset Management was an additional consideration, providing valuable insight into the investment opportunity and the local operating environment.
“Because we don’t have people on the ground, we can’t be flying back and forth to do all the due diligence,” Ms Rao said. “So the structure is also the other factor that attracted us.”
The combination of specialist expertise, due diligence and an appropriate investment structure helped address some of the practical complexities of participating in an unfamiliar market.
Lisa Genasci, Managing Director, Sustainable Finance at ADM Capital, said the Asia Climate-smart Landscape Fund reached its final close in July 2026, raising USD 48 million.
“We have three transactions on the ground, two more in due diligence,” she told the panel session.
Ms Genasci said the fund had four impact targets – emissions reduction, better land use management, improved livelihoods and gender equality.
“We don’t see our capital as concessional; we see our capital as commercial capital and hence wanting to work with our companies to improve them across the board.”
Ms Genasci said there was a lot of interest in Indonesia, which is home to one of the world’s largest tropical forest areas and is among the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters.
“It is really important to get right that decoupling of deforestation from agriculture production,” she said. “So we felt really strongly about starting in Indonesia.”
