The Danish Planetary Responsibility Foundation (PRF) has made a strategic investment in the British company Ponterra Ltd. With this investment, PRF becomes a shareholder of an ambitious company aiming to implement 35 extensive nature restoration projects globally over the next ten years.
With 70% of the world’s biodiversity lost since the 1970s, the planet faces serious environmental challenges. Ponterra’s projects transform unproductive agricultural lands into high biodiversity nature restoration sites through the sale of carbon and biodiversity credits, offering farmers an economically attractive solution for their less profitable lands.
“Our investment in Ponterra supports a business model that not only promotes one of PRF’s fundamental purposes – nature restoration but also ensures socio-economic growth in the affected areas,” states Jens Böhme, CEO of PRF.
“Our goal with the investment in Ponterra is not only to achieve a commercial return but also to realize genuine nature restoration, which is central to the foundation’s mission,” points out Jens Böhme.
“While the biodiversity crisis may not always receive the same attention as the climate crisis, it is no less urgent. Nature is not only valuable in itself; our economies deeply depend on its resources. It is crucial that we accelerate such engagements both in business and among authorities.”
“Ponterra’s work in promoting investments in nature and CO2 absorption through biodiversity-rich climate credits offers a concrete and real solution to the pressing climate and biodiversity challenges we face. It is important for us in the foundation that these are tangible, real actions we are investing in,” states Jens Böhme, CEO of PRF.
“Ponterra’s mission to restore biodiversity and uplift local communities by designing and operating high-integrity nature projects comes to life today. We are thrilled to be working with some of the most respected buyers of nature-based carbon credits in the market to reach the scale needed to meaningfully impact the twin biodiversity and climate crises,” said Celia Francis, CEO of Ponterra Ltd. ‘Ponterra and PRF are fully mission aligned and we are thrilled to have had PRF as an early investor.’
As pioneers in developing high quality nature-based climate projects, Ponterra effectively binds CO2, restores biodiversity, and strengthens local communities. In Panama, Ponterra has initiated the flagship project, ARC, on 10,000 hectares, where over 75 local tree species will be planted to promote biodiversity and develop a scalable model for nature restoration. This model forms the basis for the company’s further global expansion.
Ponterra is also establishing a ‘Living Lab,’ a global research center in collaboration with local and visiting researchers and scientists from renowned institutions such as ETH Zurich, Crowther Lab, and the Smithsonian Research Institute. Some of the researchers involved are supported by a grant from Google and will focus on advanced biodiversity monitoring.
In 2024, Ponterra’s nursery will expand to the capacity to house up to a million saplings, which will accelerate the planting to an expected six million trees over the next few years.
Ponterra’s business model is based on long-term leasing of agricultural land, enabling both nature restoration and a sustained revenue source for farmers through the sale of high-quality climate credits.
Last week, Ponterra’s pilot project ARC secured full financing from a consortium of some of the world’s leading nature project investors.
Microsoft, Rubicon Carbon, and Carbon Streaming have all entered agreements that fully fund the ARC project. The three investors have purchased a percentage of the future carbon credits from the project in exchange for financing the upfront costs to establish the 10,000-hectare forest, which will sequester 3.24 million tons of CO2. In parallel, Microsoft has agreed to an additional carbon credits agreement through 2040. Microsoft alone bought 1.6m carbon credits from the project.
More information: PRF – Press Release; About PRF; About Ponterra. Featured image credit: Kelly | Pexels
