Frequently Asked Questions

Forests are critical ecosystems and incredible carbon sinks. They are nature’s technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Trees are the most scalable and efficient way to remove carbon today. Forests are so important that every single international climate plan includes dramatic measures to protect and restore forests. Beyond that, forests are also hotbeds of biodiversity, providing a home to the majority of animals and plant species on the planet. They’re essential to regulating heat and clean water. Forests are a source of livelihood and home to many communities around the world.

A carbon credit is a financing tool to support projects reducing greenhouse gas emissions or recapturing carbon from the atmosphere. A single carbon credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent gases. Carbon credits were formalized by the United Nations Kyoto Protocol. That UN body also developed the key principles and rules guiding verified credits today. In the past, there has been a range of activities that could issue carbon credits. Many experts believe that carbon markets previously were flooded with unverified credits that did not represent real carbon reduction. Our team at Pachama wants to change that. We work only with projects that have third-party verification and pass our own standards.

Reforestation projects grow trees, capturing carbon from the atmosphere as they grow. Avoided deforestation projects conserve and protect forests in danger of being cut down. They earn carbon credits by avoiding the emissions associated with this clear-cutting. Pachama also has a third type of forest project called an Improved Forest Management project. Improved forest management projects promote sustainable harvesting. They improve upon exploitative harvest practices, reducing the amount of clear-cutting.

Tree planting efforts vary depending on project. In reforestation projects, our project partners will plant native species in areas that would not have been reforested. For conservation or improved forest management projects, standing forests will be protected by preventing deforestation in high-risk areas.

At Pachama, we measure the cumulative climate impact of the full forest carbon project, but can offer details on planting activities by project as needed.

All of the projects on our platform today are certified by a top third-party standard group including Verra, American Carbon Registry, Carbon Action Reserve, and Gold Standard.

Every project must pass Pachama’s elevated standard that ensures the project delivers durable, conservative, and additional carbon reduction as well as benefits beyond carbon.

For Pachama-verified projects, we use a rigorous evaluation criteria to evaluate forest carbon projects approved by four major carbon registries: Verra, American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, and The Gold Standard. A team of forest scientists conduct an in-depth analysis, fueled by remote sensing and artificial intelligence, to most effectively evaluate each forest project. As of 2024, less than 30% of registry-approved projects pass Pachama’s rigorous evaluation criteria.

For Pachama Original projects, a distinct type of assessment is required given the early stage of these pre-issuance projects. We implement a robust assessment using our Origination Design Criteria, offering highly detailed feasibility assessments to any Originals investor.

Today, prices in the market range anywhere from around $10 per metric ton to $100 per metric ton based on location and type of project. For enterprise companies with needs exceeding 1000 tons, contact our sales team for pricing. For individuals or small companies looking to support forests on a smaller scale, pricing can be found next to each project listed on our platform.

The vast majority of the funds from your investment go to project developers and landowners, and small percentage goes to Pachama. Project developers use the funds to cover the costs of protecting the forest, verification activities and community efforts. Pachama uses the funds for data acquisition, R&D and supporting our team. Remaining funds go to the landowner who is committed to protecting the forest instead of developing the land.

Pachama’s does not certify companies as carbon neutral today; however, we support a wide range of clients with carbon neutral, nature positive, net zero and related goals, who come to Pachama for our rigorous commitment to quality forest carbon projects in service of their goals.

We love meeting folks interested in restoring and protecting the world’s forests. If you have a project with existing credits that you’d like Pachama to evaluate, or if you are looking to start a new project, please visit our Develop a Project page to submit your information.

Pachama is not a non-profit, but we are a mission-driven company bringing the efficiency of the private sector to restoring nature. We’re fortunate to be backed by great investors that are aligned with our mission of solving climate change and work with us to create that vision.

After you place your order, the Pachama team ensures that carbon credits are “retired” for your organization from the applicable registry. This ensures no one else can re-sell those credits. After the retirement is completed, you will receive a carbon credit certificate with a serial number representing those credits. This process may take up to two weeks.

Absolutely! Many Pachama community members work with Pachama this way.

To support a project on behalf of an organization, first create your account as an individual, and then add an organization profile. When you purchase credits on behalf of your organization, make sure to use your organization profile so that credits are retired for your organization, rather than for you personally. We also recommend adding your organization logo to your organization profile so that it will appear on an automatically-generated impact page that you can use to share about your support of forest projects.

You can add other team members to your organization so that they can help purchase credits or view past orders.Create your organization from within your account, then select “Members” under “Settings”. From this page, you can invite members and specify permissions for each invited team member depending on whether you want them to be able to add members (Owner), purchase orders (Buyer), or just view past orders (Viewer). You can delete members from your account at any time. Any purchases made on behalf of your organization by a member will stay linked to your organization account, even if the member who made the purchase is deleted.