HHR Guides Côte d’Ivoire in €2B Reforestation and Carbon Credit Deal

September 2024 — The firm advised the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (also called the Ivory Coast) on drafting and negotiating a fifty-year concession agreement for restoration and biodiversity conservation covering an area of 104,000 hectares (about 400 square miles) of the Haut-Sassandra classified forest.​

Funded by French environmental financial firm aDryada, alongside other investors, and valued at €2 billion, the agreement will generate carbon credits, a share of which will be allocated to the state of Côte d'Ivoire and local populations.

The project takes a two-pronged approach: reforestation coupled with a social support plan for local populations, which includes the development of agroforests and the construction of social infrastructure. Another aim of the reforestation is for Côte d'Ivoire to meet its climate commitments under the Paris Agreements and restore Ivorian cocoa's marketability in the EU.

HHR's role included advising on the drafting and finalization of the concession agreement and a range of associated agreements, such as project guarantees, along with the assignment of the project company's carbon credit rights under the concession agreement to its majority shareholder.

Sena Agbayissah led the HHR team, which included Rhidian David and Agnès Braka-Calas.