The subsidiary of Toronto-based insurance and financial-services company Manulife Financial will use the funds to buy swathes of forest lands in the U.S. and possibly the European Union, where the company says carbon sequestration will be prioritized over timber production. (The Logic) 

Talking point: The launch of the Manulife Forest Climate Fund mirrors a growing trend among banks and other financial institutions buying forest lands in order to sell their CO2-absorbing qualities in the form of carbon offset credits. Under such an arrangement, heavy industrial players can then buy those credits in order to offset emissions. Preserving trees is becoming increasingly big business amid the broader growth of offset markets, and has drawn investment from a range of companies including oil giant British Petroleum. Still, the method has been criticized as greenwashing by providing companies a cheap method of trimming their carbon footprints without actually removing CO2 from the atmosphere.