An Area Two Times Bigger Than California To Be Allowed To Return To Nature

An area twice the size of California is set for a makeover, thanks to private funding. Wiki states that the US state on the western coast of Northern America has a land mass of 163,696 sq miles. This project aims to revive a land mass that’s double that.

This project aims to change large landscapes into living carbon capture sites. How? By combining environmental restoration with sustainable innovation.

Cultivo; Fronting Nature’s Revitalization Project

Cultivo is a Public Benefit Corporation aiming to revive and protect the land. This improves the productivity, biodiversity, and sustainability of the ecosystem.

The corporation’s website states that it exists to source finance to restore nature. Cultivo creates groups of valuable natural assets that make money and benefit both the environment and people.

How Cultivo’s Environmental Impact Pays Off

The company makes profits through sales contracts. This depends on how much carbon is taken away from the air by fixing damaged land, gaining biodiversity, or water retained in their projects. These agreements involve the buyer purchasing a set amount of carbon credits at a given price over a period of years.

Cultivo states that its ecosystem services are ratified to ensure the impact they make is permanent and additional. The impact made goes beyond what would have occurred naturally.

Funding The Future

The US-based land generation company seeks to provide high-quality carbon credits. To achieve this, Cultivo claims it has raised $14 million in Series A funding to revive about a hundred million hectares of land.

The funding round was co-driven by two parties; MassMutual Ventures, a Singapore-based global venture capital firm, and UK-based Octopus Energy Generation. There was also participation from Peru-based Salkantay Ventures and Mexico’s Pena Verde. It brought the company’s total funding to over $20 million.

Partners In The Green Initiative

Being a Public Benefit Corporation means having the freedom to focus on a particular public benefit. This allows the board to make choices that consider both its financial interests and its effect on customers and the environment.

Octopus Energy Generation manages 3.2 GW of renewable energy projects worth about 6bn pounds across 17 countries. MassMutual Ventures supposedly handles over $1bn in investment capital.

Demand For Premium Carbon Credits

Cultivo’s CEO and co-founder, Manuel Pinuela spoke of the increasing demand for high-quality carbon credits. “Investors are recognizing the value and scale of the natural capital investment opportunity, and companies are wanting to secure a future supply of high-quality carbon removal credits to mitigate volatility and quality concerns seen in the voluntary carbon market,” he said.

The company identifies fitting projects using a wide range of sources including satellites. It then analyzes the data with its in-house AI software. Next, it works with NGOs and landowners to get the projects ready for investment and design the right investment plans. The projects are watched closely to see how much carbon, biodiversity, and water they capture. And also to understand the social impact on local communities.

284 Global Projects, 100M Hectares, 3 Gigatons of CO2 – A Company’s Environmental Revolution

Cultivo says it has 284 projects around the world, covering more than 100 million hectares. These projects can get rid of over 3 Gigatons of carbon dioxide, which is close to what the EU emits in a year.

Most of the ongoing projects, around 55-60%, are focused on managing grasslands. The rest are split into different projects. This includes planting new trees, growing existing forests, and better forest management. Mangrove restoration is also included in the project.

Worldwide Reach, U.S. Commitment

Cultivo’s portfolio covers the globe and supposedly surpasses California’s 42.4 million hectares. Of this portfolio, 31 are U.S.-based. Octopus Energy’s $40 million investment focuses mainly on the U.S. This is to support growing grasslands and reforesting. A study in 2021 suggested that the Midwest alone has lost 57.6 billion metric tons of topsoil in the last 160 years.

Pinuela cited a couple of issues with U.S. projects under Octopus Energy’s investment. They include ‘land erosion’ and ‘unsustainable farming practices’. Despite this, the company remains committed to expanding grasslands and reforesting in America.

Cultivo’s Green Mission In Mexico

The most advanced projects include the ones geared towards reforesting and agriculture in the US. Sustainable grassland management ventures in northern Mexico is another. And lastly, improved forest management ventures in other parts of the country.

Nearly half of the upcoming projects are centered around improving grasslands. The rest is evenly distributed across tree planting, forest management, and mangrove restoration. This information was communicated to Impact Investor.

Zero Emissions, Nature’s Redemption

With climate change being a big worry, the government and companies are trying to reduce carbon emissions. This is to prevent global warming problems for nature, the food chain, and people.

There are two ways to do this. First, companies are tasked with cutting down on their greenhouse gas emissions. Of which carbon dioxide is of top priority. The goal is to meet up with government targets and eventually become carbon neutral. Many achieve this by buying credits to offset their emissions through carbon capture projects.

Nature’s Carbon Cleaners

Another way is letting natural land grow with plants. This naturally takes carbon dioxide from the air. As more buildings are constructed, there’s less space for nature’s carbon cleaners. And with more emissions from industries and vehicles, the natural balance is shifting the wrong way.

Rewilding projects not only cut down on carbon in the air but are fast becoming popular investments. This is because of expected returns from the growing demand for carbon credits.

Saving A Distressed Asset

In December, spiritual guide Sadhguru talked about the problem of depleted soil. He said in an interview with Newsweek that every new green leaf can help fight climate change. Pinuela spoke about Cultivo’s first project in Florida, where they’re planting trees on a land that used to grow citrus but got affected by disease.

He mentioned how American landowners really want to bring back natural habitats. Even though land becomes more valuable over time, right now, it’s seen as a “distressed asset.” “Landowners of all types-from corporate landowners to preservation groups, to private landowners-they already know that their land is degraded, but they want to understand: how can their land bounce back?” he said.