The tech sector’s fascination with tree restoration as a climate solution apparently isn’t unique to U.S. companies. Latin America’s largest e-commerce marketplace — Mercado Libre, a company with roughly twice the market capitalization of eBay at $78 billion — is putting part of the proceeds from its $400 million sustainability bond toward two forest restoration projects in the remnants of the Atlantic Forest, which once covered 15 percent of Brazil. Those projects are both managed under Mercado Libre’s Renera America program, which aims to restore key ecosystems throughout the region as part of its climate action strategy, using technology from climate-tech startup Pachama to monitor and verify the progress of this work. The first two initiatives, which will receive $8 million in the first phase, aim to restore nearly 7,500 acres and more than 1 million trees. Why would an e-commerce company get involved on the ground with a reforestation effort of this scale? Why not just buy offsets from somewhere else? From an established forest carbon marketplace? "We like to do things that are tangible," Pedro Arnt, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Mercado Libre, told me when we chatted about the project last week. This […]
Latin American e-commerce giant invests in Brazilian ecosystem restoration
