Chestnut Carbon Raises $90 Million to Scale Nature-Based Carbon Removal Projects Across the U.S.

Chestnut Carbon, a nature-based carbon removal developer, has raised an additional $90 million in Series B financing, bringing its total Series B round to $250 million.

The investment, led by existing partner CPP Investments, underscores the growing demand for high-quality, verifiable carbon removal solutions that can help companies and communities meet their net zero goals.

This milestone follows Chestnut’s recent closing of an interesting non-recourse project finance credit facility of up to $210 million, the first-of-its-kind bank financing for a U.S. voluntary carbon removal afforestation project.

Together, these moves position the company at the forefront of scaling sustainable forestry initiatives nationwide.

Building Forests, Removing Carbon

Chestnut Carbon is focused on transforming marginal croplands and pastures into biodiverse forests across the United States.

Its afforestation projects are designed to:

🌱 Capture and store carbon through healthy, resilient ecosystems
🌱 Generate Gold Standard® verified carbon credits for corporate partners
🌱 Conserve forestlands while creating long-term economic benefits for landowners

Already, Chestnut has acquired more than 60,000 acres across eight southern states. Projects like the El Ranchos site in Jefferson County, Arkansas (2,367 acres with 1,843 earmarked for afforestation), and the Rooks Ranch in Dallas County, Alabama (1,422 acres with 1,177 for afforestation) demonstrate the scale at which the company is operating.

Strategic Backing for Scalable Impact

Bill Rogers, Head of Sustainable Energies at CPP Investments, emphasized the importance of Chestnut’s model in a global context.

“Our continued support of Chestnut and Kimmeridge's pioneering work underscores our belief that high-quality, verifiable carbon removal projects will play a critical role in supporting global decarbonization goals while generating long-term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

Chestnut’s financing will be directed toward two key areas:

• Land purchases to expand afforestation efforts and preserve family forests
• Technological innovation through proprietary data tools and patented systems that enhance forest modeling, monitoring, and efficiency

Trusted Partnerships

Chestnut works with leading corporate sustainability partners, including Microsoft, which has committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030.

“This agreement with Chestnut Carbon is another positive step towards Microsoft’s goal to become carbon negative by 2030. We look forward to scaling forest restoration within the United States, attracting sophisticated private capital in the process.”
– Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy & Carbon Removal at Microsoft

By pairing private capital with ecological restoration, Chestnut is demonstrating how climate finance can move beyond offsets toward long-term, verifiable impact.

How This Impacts the World

The urgency of the climate crisis requires solutions that are both scalable and credible. Chestnut Carbon’s work addresses this need in three critical ways:

1. Carbon Removal at Scale – Transforming underutilized lands into thriving forests capable of removing millions of tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes.
2. Ecological Resilience – Restoring ecosystems that support biodiversity, soil health, and water quality, ensuring benefits far beyond carbon storage.
3. Market Transformation – Establishing new financial models for carbon removal that attract institutional investors, proving that sustainability and profitability can coexist.

As Greg Adams, Chief Financial Officer of Chestnut Carbon, notes,

“We’re committed to helping our customers meet their decarbonization goals and ensuring they can rely on us as their trusted partner in the process.”

Looking Ahead

With $250 million secured in Series B funding and a first-of-its-kind project finance facility in place, Chestnut Carbon is charting a path for large-scale, nature-based solutions to play a central role in the global climate response.

By aligning investors, corporations, and landowners, the company is building not just forests but also a framework for a more sustainable future.

For a mission-driven audience, Chestnut’s story is clear proof that innovative finance and ecological restoration can combine to accelerate the transition to a net zero world.

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