SAO PAULO: Private equity-backed reforestation startup re.green has signed a partnership with Agro Penido to restore 600 hectares (1,482 acres) of land owned by the Brazilian agribusiness firm with native species from the Amazon rainforest, it said on Monday.
\nTheir partnership is the latest deal for the nascent reforestation business in Brazil, home to most of the world\u2019s largest rainforest and host of the COP30 UN climate summit this year in the Amazonian city of Belem.
\nLocal startups including re.green, AXA-backed Mombak and Biomas \u2014 a firm established by Suzano, Santander, Vale, Marfrig, Rabobank and Itau \u2014 have been working to buy land or partner with local farmers to restore areas of the Amazon.
\nTurning degraded land into forests can generate carbon credits, which companies buy to offset their greenhouse gas emissions voluntarily or through regulated markets like the one Brazil has recently written into law.
\nFirms such as Alphabet\u2019s unit Google, Microsoft , Facebook owner Meta and McLaren Racing have recently purchased carbon credits from Brazilian projects.
\nThe new re.green deal represents the first time it is partnering to restore farmer-owned land, Chief Executive Thiago Picolo told Reuters, noting the firm has already bought 13,000 hectares from ranchers.
\n\u201cBuying land is an important model, but we always knew that for re.green to reach the size it wants we would have to partner with landowners and involve them in this business,\u201d Picolo said.
\nRe.green is backed by Brazilian billionaire Joao Moreira Salles and asset managers including Lanx Capital, Principia, Dynamo and Gavea Investimentos, which was founded by former Brazilian central bank governor Arminio Fraga.
\nSalles and Fraga are both on the board of re.green, whose goal is to restore 1 million hectares of land in Brazil, an area twice the size of Delaware. It announced a deal with Microsoft in May to restore 15,000 hectares in the Amazon.
\nThe deal with Agro Penido covers areas near the Xingu Indigenous Park in Mato Grosso, Brazil\u2019s largest grain-producing state. Picolo said re.green plans to restore forests in less productive parts of Agro Penido\u2019s farms, some of which may yield lumber in addition to carbon credits.
\nPicolo said the first phase of their partnership has the potential to produce some 300,000 carbon credits over the next few decades, each representing the removal of a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.
\nHe said re.green can sell its reforestation-based credits at a premium, fetching some $50 to $100 in private deals.
\nScientists consider the Amazon\u2019s protection vital to curbing climate change because of the vast amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide its trees absorb. Some critics complain the offsets allow polluters to avoid reducing their emissions.
\nAgro Penido, which has a separate joint venture with grains powerhouse SLC Agricola, currently has nearly 40,000 hectares producing soybeans, corn and cotton, which it aims to expand to 65,000 hectares by 2027\/28.
\n\u201cThis is a start,\u201d said Caio Penido, one of the owners, about the re.green deal. He added they would now evaluate other areas owned by the firm, noting it was possible for the project to double its scope to 1,200 hectares. (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo Editing by Brad Haynes and Diane Craft)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SAO PAULO: Private equity-backed reforestation startup re.green has signed a partnership with Agro Penido to restore 600 hectares (1,482 acres) of land owned by the Brazilian agribusiness firm with native species from the Amazon rainforest, it said on Monday. Their partnership is the latest deal for the nascent reforestation business in Brazil, home to most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-455088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n