bp
Investing in verified carbon offsetting and forest stewardship

Helping landowners keep carbon stored in their forests whilst generating new revenue streams

 

Challenge

Putting a monetary price on the per tonne ability of living forests to absorb carbon can make a vital contribution to reducing deforestation and contributing to the world achieving net zero. If done well, it enables companies to procure robust carbon offsets, as a component of their decarbonization efforts. However, quantifying, monitoring and verifying the carbon impact of natural climate solutions can be costly and time consuming, so can benefit from streamlining and efficiencies.

Tennessee_River_Gorge_Trust_case_study

image credit: Tennessee River Gorge Trust, Tennessee, © Westlightart.com

Solution

bp has taken a majority stake in Finite Carbon, North America’s biggest developer and supplier of forest carbon offsets, following an initial venture investment in 2019. Finite Carbon identifies and develops projects that help landowners to keep carbon stored in their forests.  They measure the carbon stored so it can be turned into verified carbon credits, which bring new revenue streams for landowners and allows further improved forest management practices.

Finite Carbon has close to 50 projects, covering over three million acres in the US. Storing almost 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the independently verified offsets generated have created $500 million in revenue for landowners.

Expanding impact

The increased investment in Finite Carbon will aid delivery of a further $1 billion to landowners by 2030 via both existing business lines and CORE CarbonSM, a new web-based platform designed to enable small landowners access to the carbon offset market.

The technology removes barriers, including high transaction monitoring and reporting costs, which enables small landowners to generate new income through long-term commitments to good land stewardship.

Over the next decade, bp’s investment in Finite Carbon, through its in-house accelerator Launchpad, is intended to build it into a globally leading business for managing and financing natural climate solutions.