Microsoft’s Initiative to Convert Old Farms into Forests
Supported by Microsoft, Chestnut Carbon company has raised $160 million in investments to transform degraded agricultural lands. The company aims to produce high-quality nature-based solutions that eliminate issues impacting carbon markets. Currently, the company owns over 35,000 acres of marginal and degraded agricultural land in the United States. The initiative hopes to increase its carbon credit capacity to 100 million metric tons by 2030.
Microsoft-supported Chestnut Carbon has raised $160 million to plant, restore, and manage trees on degraded agricultural lands. The goal is to provide high-quality nature-based credits that address issues affecting carbon markets.
MASSIVE SUPPORT FROM MICROSOFT Microsoft provided credits for Chestnut to clean up 7 million tons of carbon. A 25-year agreement will help Chestnut rehabilitate 60,000 acres of land in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Carbon credits have become a popular commodity among technology companies looking to offset emissions caused by data centers serving cloud and artificial intelligence customers. The new investment round included participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Cloverlay, and DBL Partners, alongside undisclosed university endowments, family offices, fund foundations, and other corporate investors.
OWNING 35,000 ACRES OF AGRICULTURAL LAND The $160 million for Chestnut Carbon is actually a modest amount. The initiative hopes to increase its carbon credit capacity to 100 million metric tons by 2030, which would require the conversion of hundreds of thousands of acres back into forests.
THE WORLD NEEDS MORE FORESTS If Chestnut can carve out a space in the carbon credit market, afforestation and reforestation offer significant potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change pollution. A study from 2019 found that the world could support an additional 2.2 billion acres of forest today. When these forests mature, they would sequester 205 billion metric tons of carbon, approximately one-fourth of the carbon currently in the atmosphere.
