There are different solutions for CO₂ capture. Some rely on engineering artifacts, such as Direct Air Capture and Storage (DACCS) or Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), and make an intensive use of energy and supplies. On the contrary, nature based solutions leverage on plants photosynthetic capabilities to decrease CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere and store carbon in their tissues.

Among all the alternatives that can be applied to sequester carbon, in Cambium we have chosen the one whose effects are higher, more proven and scalable: to plant trees and create new forests as the fastest and most cost-effective way to increase carbon capture and storage, providing at the same time environmental and social benefits.

Each carbon offset corresponds to one metric ton of reduced, avoided or removed CO₂ (or equivalent greenhouse gas). Once they have been generated they can be registered in a public platform, but it is not until they have been certified by an independent party under reliable universal standards, that they can be traded. Companies that acquire carbon offsets can keep them or use them to compensate for the emission of one ton of CO₂ or equivalent greenhouse gases they emitted with their activity. When a carbon offset is used for this purpose, it is labeled as retired, so it is no longer tradable.

We call a project every afforestation or reforestation initiative that Cambium develops to generate carbon offsets to be traded, and thus help companies that want to compensate for their carbon footprint through our solutions. Our projects are divided into carbon tiles, and our customers' portfolios can be composed of carbon tiles from different projects.

We call a tile the geographical subdivision in which our offsetting projects are fragmented to enable easier access for our customers to the carbon offsets it generates. Through fragmentation we guarantee affordability and modularity, so a customer can take part in small portions of a big project, or in several different projects.

Your portfolio at Cambium is composed of the set of tiles whose carbon offsets you contract. Those tiles do not have to belong to the same project, can be in different locations and can be planted with different tree species if you choose so as a diversification strategy.

The world's forests store approximately 400 gigatons of carbon: this equates to just over a decade of annual emissions from fossil fuels at the current rate.

Before the Neolithic era, 57% of the habitable land was occupied by forests; today, 38% is. Overall, the forest area has been reduced by a third in the last 10,000 years, as clearing and arson were used by our ancestors to generate new pastures and arable land, a practice that continues today in many regions, although in others, such as in Europe, the forest area has been growing for more than 100 years.

When a forest ceases to exist, two phenomena accelerate global warming: on the one hand, its accumulated stock of CO2 is released into the atmosphere if its wood is burned or decomposes, and on the other, the capture and immobilization of carbon produced by its metabolism ceases to occur.

Among all the potential solutions that address carbon capture, Natural Climate Solutions are the most cost-effective and scalable given the current state-of-art of the rest (e.g. BECCS and DACS):

LATAM keeps a good balance between forest restoration potential, operational costs on forestry, and political stability, with results in predictable projects performance in terms of carbon capture achievements and economical productivity.

Modularity in your portfolio configuration enables flexibility to adapt to your needs and preferences throughout time. Besides, you can activate a strategy of diversification, choosing both, tiles planted with high-speed growth, and tiles with low-speed growth but other environmental positive impacts, such as contribution to enrich biodiversity in the project area. Additionally, geographical diversification helps to navigate unforeseen context events, such as draughts, fires or plagues; however, our model includes insurance mechanisms against these risks.

By dividing big projects into smaller forest lots or tiles we make it possible for our customers to choose between different combinations of the following primary variables:

Surface (hectares)

Location (the location depends on climatic conditions, soil conditions, access to groundwater, or whether the plantation will contribute to the creation of a green corridor interconnecting natural areas, etc.).

Species mix (on which the CO₂ capture performance, or the degree of biodiversity associated with the reforestation project depends).
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From these primary variables, 4 fundamental secondary variables are deduced for the project: 
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Its yield or CO₂ absorption capacity in a given period of time.

The contracting price for the given period 

By relating the two, the cost per ton of CO₂ captured can also be inferred.

A synthetic indicator of positive impact (social and environmental) beyond carbon capture.

Our projects have different sets of certifications 

Certifications of good practices in forestry management (such as FSC)

Generation of Carbon Offsets through global standards (Verra VCC, BioCarbon Registry BCR, or Gold Standard, among others)

Certification of social and biodiversity positive impacts through programs such as CCBS of Verra, among others