September 25, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

As Climate Week unfolds in New York, carbon credits are swirling. Big Tech play Meta Platforms, parent company of Facebook, has joined the fray, betting big on BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group for the delivery of 1.3 million nature-based carbon removal credits over the next decade-plus and the option to increase the tally to nearly 4 million.

Through the deal, which is billed as one of the largest of its kind, BTG Pactual Timberland will generate the carbon credits through its $1 billion Latin America reforestation strategy, including the Cerrado biome in Brazil — located southeast of the Amazon Rainforest. Building on a $50 million commitment from International Finance Corporation (IFC) in July, Conservation International serves as impact adviser on the deal.

As part of the agreement, BTG Pactual will harness Meta’s forest monitoring technology, including canopy height data and artificial intelligence (AI) models, to help define a baseline of existing forest cover for the reforestation strategy. While Meta is famous for its social media platforms, the company has also collaborated with World Resources Institute for the mapping of tree-canopy height at a 1-meter resolution, paving the way for the detection of single trees on a global scale.

Mark Wishnie, BTG Pactual TIG’s chief sustainability officer and head of the firm’s reforestation strategy, told GAI News, “From day one, our goal with this strategy has been to deliver impact at scale. Very early on in the process, we started reaching out to corporate leaders whose willingness to explore new approaches and whose commitment to integrity matched our own. We’re extremely proud that some of these early discussions have evolved into groundbreaking transactions.

“We believe that this deal with Meta — together with our earlier transaction with Microsoft and similar announcements from other corporate leaders — sends a public signal about the potential of a functioning high-integrity carbon market to drive climate action, alongside benefits for communities and biodiversity. Natural climate solutions have no greater potential than in Latin America, which is why we have focused our reforestation strategy there. The incredible growth rates, large potential for scale, high biodiversity value and significant community benefits are all factors that we believe feed into our mission to deliver significant impact.”

Meta’s global head of net zero and sustainability, Blair Swedeen, also broke it down, stating, “I’m pleased to announce a long-term contract with BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group for the delivery of a minimum 1.3 million nature-based carbon removal credits through 2038….BTG Pactual TIG and Conservation International, in their visionary collaboration, are setting a new bar for how sustainable forestry operations can deliver restoration of degraded land, while providing important economic opportunities for local communities.”

BTG Pactual’s Latin American strategy involves the conservation, restoration and planting of deforested and degraded properties in the region, particularly in Brazil, which boasts one of the most biodiverse seasonally dry ecosystems on the planet. Roughly 50 percent of Cerrado’s land has so far been converted to different use cases even as the threat of deforestation persists. In addition to deforestation, its strategy involves community benefits such as the creation of rural jobs and development of the area’s bioeconomy.

Meta oversees nearly three-dozen data centers across five countries, some sites of which are operational and others of which are new builds, according to Data Center Map. As the company pursues its AI ambitions, it carbon footprint is only growing. In response, Meta is on a path to net zero through a combination of reducing and removing emissions from the atmosphere. In cases where it’s unable to remove emissions, the Facebook parent will look to nature-based carbon removal projects, such as the one it has secured with BTG Pactual Timberland.

Conservation International CEO Dr. M. Sanjayan commented, “With this investment, Meta is sending a message to the rest of the private sector: a sustainable future need not be austere; it can be abundant. We commend Meta for their leadership, including their commitment to improving measurement of forest cover, which is crucial for carbon market integrity.”

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