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Terraformation expands leadership team with key hires and promotions in move to guide carbon buyers to high-quality biodiverse carbon projects
- Terraformation launches its Climate Impact unit to bring greater transparency and quality to funders across the carbon market
- The move follows a major milestone for Terraformation’s forestry partners and seed bank network, which hits 52 million seeds stored
WAIMEA, HAWAII (July 10, 2023) — Terraformation, a global reforestation company, announces the launch of its new Climate Impact team and the appointment of Damien Kuhn to its leadership team as Vice President, Forestry Partnerships and Development.
Damien, who specializes in environmental economics and has developed nearly 1M hectares of forest carbon projects, is leading Terraformation’s Forestry, Science, and Partnerships teams as they establish and grow new biodiverse projects with global partners and organizations.
This includes Terraformation’s Seed to Carbon Forest Accelerator, a first-of-its-kind, biodiversity-focused, carbon-funded accelerator. The Accelerator launched in November 2022 to provide early-stage capital to forestry teams around the world.
The Seed to Carbon Forest Accelerator will help meet the need for new reforestation teams to capture carbon at scale and limit the impacts of climate change by providing the tools, skills, and resources to launch biodiverse forest restoration projects. This includes early-stage financing, training in resilient native ecosystem restoration, and tools to increase project transparency in critical early stages.
This appointment follows recent milestones in Terraformation’s partnerships and projects, including over 52M seeds stored, 614,927 plantings enabled, and 16 seed banks operating around the globe.
Terraformation launches new Climate Impact team to connect carbon buyers with premium quality credits
Jonathan Kim has moved from Terraformation’s Product team to lead its newly formed Climate Impact unit as Vice President. The new unit advises carbon buyers and companies interested in the carbon market, valued at upwards of $50 billion by 2030*, where demand for premium-quality credits outpaces supply. The Climate Impact team helps carbon buyers navigate the complexities of the carbon market, identify quality projects, and turn sustainability goals into action.
Yishan Wong, CEO of Terraformation, said: “The planet needs to rapidly scale reforestation efforts to address the climate crisis. We’re very glad to bring someone with Damien’s expertise on board at a time when Terraformation is working to break down the barriers facing early-stage forestry teams and get more trees in the ground through our Accelerator. We’ve already seen our teams directly benefit from Damien’s forestry knowledge being used on the front lines of biodiverse restoration.”
“The creation of the Climate Impact Team is also a key development for Terraformation at a time when quality in the voluntary carbon markets is rightly under scrutiny. This team will harness Terraformation’s insight and on-the-ground forestry experience to guide carbon buyers to premium credits in the most transparent way.”
The Climate Impact team has welcomed new hires from South Pole and Vlinder Climate as Climate Impact Advisors, adding to the deep bench of Terraformation experts specializing in reforestation, carbon science, legal, finance, and operations. They will be responsible for helping buyers secure access to verified carbon credits from geographically biodiverse forestry projects that have graduated from Terraformation’s Accelerator.
New Strategic Additions
In additional strategic hires across the business, Joshua Surridge joins Terraformation’s marketing and communications team from Natural Capital Exchange (NCX) as Head of Web and Digital Marketing.
Expanding Terraformation’s Hawaiʻi operations, the company has retained Harvey Stone as a Climate and Sustainability Advisor, where he will focus on developing new partnerships for greater climate and business impact.
*A blueprint for scaling voluntary carbon markets to meet the climate challenge. (2021, January 29). McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/a-blueprint-for-scaling-voluntary-carbon-markets-to-meet-the-climate-challenge
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Our project teams have planted over one million biodiverse and native trees, stored 131 million seeds, supported 19 forestry projects, and created over 700 jobs through reforestation efforts worldwide.
Our innovative approach not only equips local forestry teams with training, technology, and access to capital, but also empowers businesses to be a part of the solution to climate change. By investing in our projects, businesses can directly address climate change, offset carbon emissions, meet net zero commitments, and enhance corporate sustainability initiatives.
Founded in 2020, Terraformation’s mission-driven global team, which includes experts in forest science, carbon markets, operations management, and business development, demonstrates how diverse backgrounds drive innovation and create significant impact.
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