The Climate Trust's TRACT reforestation grant selected by USDA for $15MM funding

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Sep 21, 2022, 16:24 ET

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, The Climate Trust was selected for up to $15 million in funding to build markets for climate-smart commodities. As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's historic investment in partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Projects, this 5-year grant will support restoration of forestlands damaged by wildfire in the American West as well as marginal agricultural lands in the South by building markets for climate-smart timber and forest products.

"We are thrilled to receive the USDA's support for this program," said Julius Pasay, The Climate Trust's Executive Director. "Replanting America's forests is an absolutely critical tool in the fight to mitigate climate change." Recent studies have indicated that reforestation has by far the greatest potential of any natural climate solution to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

The Climate Trust's grant was one of 70 grants selected from a pool of over 450 applications in the first round of the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities funding opportunity. The program, Traceable Reforestation for America's Carbon and Timber (TRACT), will demonstrate how the combined value of carbon and timber can overcome the high up-front costs of tree planting. The program is a partnership that includes Arbor Day Carbon, The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, TerraCarbon, LLC, and the Nez Perce Tribe.

The grant will carefully track carbon sequestered by the newly planted forests, quantifying the climate benefits of any timber that is ultimately harvested. "Transparent and science-based carbon accounting and verification is critical to properly valuing carbon benefits," explained David Shoch, Director of Forestry at TerraCarbon.

"Arbor Day Carbon is committed to leveraging carbon markets to accelerate tree planting in the US and abroad," explained Eric Dinger, President of Arbor Day Carbon, a venture of Arbor Day Foundation. "We are excited to partner with The Climate Trust to scale this important work."

"Resources for land stewardship and forest restoration are hard to access for underserved landowners. We look forward to supporting our membership through this program," Freddie Davis, III, Director of the Southern Regional Agroforestry Center remarked. This program will deliver funding for forestry technical assistance and for underserved landowners to plant trees and restore forests.

Focused on nature-based climate solutions, The Climate Trust, founded in 1997, is a 501(c)(3) that seeks to demonstrate new business models to finance and develop carbon sequestration projects.

For more information, visit climatetrust.org/news-and-press/

SOURCE The Climate Trust