The Amazon Reforestation Fund, an investment project started by Mombak, a Brazilian firm committed to generate top-notch carbon credits by reviving the Amazon’s forests, will receive $5 million from The Rockefeller Foundation. This financial donation is a part of a bigger $100 million funding plan created to support the largest biodiverse reforestation project with a goal of removing carbon from the region. Because of this assistance, Mombak will have the ability to increase soil health, boost biodiversity, extract carbon, and create opportunities for local residents that are economically viable.
“Nature-based solutions could help reduce one-third of the necessary global emissions by the end of the decade, but remain grossly underfunded, with an estimated $700 billion financing gap per year,” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President of Innovative Finance at The Rockefeller Foundation.
“The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to help close this gap by investing in Mombak’s innovative model that seeks to remove carbon by reforesting the Amazon,” he added.
The company’s first project in Northern Brazil will plant three million trees with more than 100 native species, including 200,000 seedlings of endangered species. Over one million trees will be planted by next month, including endangered or vulnerable species such as Cedro Rosa (Cedrela fissilis), Castanheira (Bertholletia excelsa), Itauba (Mezilaurus itauba), Mogno (Swietenia macrophylla), and others. The first project has also had a positive impact on the region, creating over 50 formal jobs in the local municipality. It is expected that Mombak will kick off multiple additional projects of this kind before the end of 2023.
“The Rockefeller Foundation’s investment reinforces the integrity of our projects,” confirms Peter Fernandez, CEO and co-founder of Mombak. “One of the biggest issues in our industry is trust. We are working to create the world’s highest-integrity carbon projects.”
Mombak’s business model is centred on the creation, verification, and sale of carbon removal credits. It does this by reforesting Brazilian pastureland using native and biodiverse tree species to rebuild the forests of the Amazon. The additional carbon abated from the atmosphere from these new forests produces high-quality carbon removal credits. The credits are then sold via both spot sales and long-term customer offtake agreements.