Catona Climate Invests Catalytic Capital to Restore Nature in Colombia

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Nov 20, 2024, 18:18 ET

Milestone Investment allows for scaling of deeply-vetted early-stage Assisted Natural
Regeneration project, demonstrates power and potential of Catona's
innovative climate finance model

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Global climate finance company Catona Climate has made a major milestone investment in an Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) project in Antioquia, Colombia. This capital infusion lays the foundation for Catona's project development partner, NatureRe, to significantly expand its activities – making it an important first step towards its goal to restore over 60,000 hectares of land in Colombia and sequestering an estimated 18M tonnes CO2e.

"We're thrilled to partner with NatureRe and accelerate the restoration of large swaths of degraded lands in Colombia, one of the most biodiverse countries in the world," said Catona Climate CEO Tate Mill, "and one that is highly attractive for carbon market investment opportunities."

Illustrative of Catona's innovative climate finance model, Catona conducted a rigorous due diligence process and secured demand signals from enterprise buyers, de-risking the opportunity for other capital providers and enabling the project to scale. Multiple enterprises including one of Catona's existing Fortune 50 customers have shown strong signs of interest in NatureRe's ANR project.

"This is the Catona Climate finance model at work," said Mill. "We're allocating capital for a stake in an early-stage project we believe in, because we've worked closely with the developer to determine that it demonstrates high integrity and immense potential for impact. We then invite other market stakeholders — enterprise buyers and other investors — to follow our lead in deploying capital toward underfunded, climate-critical nature-based solutions, right when they need it most to get off the ground."

Assisted Natural Regeneration: Allowing the Land to Heal

ANR enables natural regrowth processes by first removing what stops nature from restoring itself — such as invasive species, field burns, improper use of agrochemicals, or traditional forms of cattle ranching. Light-touch human interventions are then added to help the regeneration of native forests. These include the targeted planting of native species at various densities, weeding, excluding grazing animals, fencing boundaries, and controlling invasive grasses.

Regrowth and rewilding on the land results in the return of natural ecosystems and native biodiversity, as multilayered vegetative cover enhances habitat quality for local wildlife and improves critical ecosystem services like healthy soil and clean water. Restoring nature and reviving biodiversity can also remove significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — potentially sequestering more than 400 tonnes of CO2e per hectare over a 40-year project duration.

NatureRe has been applying ANR techniques in the area since launching a pilot project in Colombia's Chocó region in 2014. They identify pasture lands that have been degraded by decades of cattle ranching, but exhibit enough soil health and clusters of secondary forest to enable ANR and allow for ecosystem connectivity.

"We've spent a decade in Colombia demonstrating ANR's power to help turn lands degraded by human activity into the thriving ecosystems they once were," said NatureRe CEO, Daniel Pfeifer. "Catona's transformative milestone investment will allow us to scale one of the most efficient nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change, restoring more areas more quickly and eventually fulfilling our vision to create an intact biodiversity corridor. We're excited to work closely with Catona and the key stakeholders they bring to the table – from enterprise buyers to innovative monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) technology partnerships."

A Catona Kind of Project

Catona's decision to join forces with NatureRe and support the project was ultimately informed by its comprehensive evaluation and due diligence process, which included multiple site visits as well as detailed research and information-gathering, independent third-party assessments, industry-leading proprietary screening tools, and geospatial data analysis.

"Including a new project in our portfolio is a decision we never take lightly," said Destin Whitehurst, Catona's VP, Head of Origination, "but upon my first visit to the project site I was impressed with NatureRe's work as they demonstrated how ANR techniques are already having their intended effect. I could see that the land is beginning to heal, and that there exists an immense capacity for high-integrity large-scale carbon removal and storage in this area. My recent visit, 12 months after the first, revealed saplings towering over my head where before there were knee-high seedlings. The growth is incredible."

Beyond the climate impact of carbon mitigation, the Antioquia project also fulfills Catona's requirements around environmental and community impact. Not only will the project greatly restore biodiversity, other environmental benefits include improved water quality, enhanced climate resilience against drought, reduction of soil runoff from integrated water and soil conservation, and reduced fire threats to existing forests. Furthermore, NatureRe actively consults with local stakeholders on the project, has provided local jobs for activities like planting, monitoring, area protection and maintenance, and could unlock opportunities for improved local infrastructure. Additionally, NatureRe plans to develop a youth educational program and focus on providing women in neighboring communities with local jobs.

A Model for Nature Restoration at Scale

Nature-based carbon removal projects have historically been difficult to scale because there tends to be a large gap between the deployment of upfront capital and carbon revenues tied to credit issuance. Catona's financing model addresses this challenge through our thorough due diligence process, catalytic early-stage investments, and enterprise buyer demand signals – ultimately de-risking projects and unlocking additional financing from various third-party capital sources. NatureRe provides a profitable business model, encouraging nature-positive investments into high-quality carbon removal projects.

"By getting involved early in the development process, thoroughly evaluating projects through our own rigorous standards of diligence and quality, and taking on some risk by investing early, Catona makes it easier for other stakeholders to come on board," said Catona's Chief Carbon Officer, Rob Lee. "That means more capital being deployed to nature more effectively, and more critical projects getting off the ground and fulfilling their potential to help combat the climate crisis."

About NatureRe
NatureRe is a project developer providing the next generation of high integrity nature-based removal solutions. By combining leading experience in impact finance, nature restoration and carbon management, and 10 years of track record in Colombia, NatureRe is dedicated to scale up high-quality nature-based removal projects in Colombia and beyond. With a focus on nature, their impact goes beyond carbon removal, extending to biodiversity restoration and positive social impact. For more information, visit Nature-Re.com.

About Catona Climate
Catona Climate is a climate finance company that delivers high-quality carbon solutions to businesses everywhere, helping transform climate pledges into measurable action through rigorously vetted high-impact nature-based carbon projects around the world. Guided by an unwavering commitment to the planet, Catona Climate exists to combat the climate crisis by driving capital to nature and enabling a fair and equitable transition to a net-zero future. Catona Climate is a member of the Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions, IETA and other critical industry groups dedicated to accelerating climate action. For more information, visit Catona.com.

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SOURCE Catona Climate