Esben Brandi
Meet Esben
Environmental Consultant | Investor
Copenhagen, Denmark
Esben Brandi is Head of Business Development at BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group and a pioneer in frontier market timberland investing. With a background in forestry and tropical land use, he has led sustainable natural capital projects across Africa, Latin America, and Asia, aligning climate, biodiversity, and economic goals for long-term impact.
Areas of activity:
Sustainable Forestry
About:
Esben Brandi is an investor and advisor specialising in sustainable natural capital, with a career dedicated to aligning climate, biodiversity, and economic goals for a healthy and prosperous planet. A pioneer in frontier market timberland investing, he was part of the team managing the world’s first global frontier timberland fund in 2007, leading origination and acquisitions in Africa before overseeing investments in Latin America.
Esben is currently Head of Business Development at BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group, one of the world’s largest timberland investment managers. He previously served as Managing Partner at Future Forest Consulting, where he supported general partners in positioning natural capital investment offerings as catalysts for positive change and guided asset owners—both high-net-worth and institutional—in their allocations to this emerging asset class.
His earlier career includes senior roles at APG, where he managed private equity investments in forestry, agriculture, and other natural resources; founding Musanga, a venture capital concept for frontier market forestry; and serving as Head of Timberland for a sovereign wealth fund. Esben began his journey in forestry as an Associate Scientist at the World Agroforestry Center in Malawi and Uganda, followed by consulting work with COWI.