Living Carbon

A US climate-biotech and reforestation public benefit company, founded in 2019 and based in San Francisco, that restores abandoned coal-mine land and degraded farmland across Appalachia and the eastern United States by planting native hardwoods and pines alongside genetically engineered, photosynthesis-enhanced hybrid poplars, and shares carbon-credit income with landowners. It has raised roughly USD 36 million in venture funding, including a USD 21 million Series A led by Temasek in January 2023 with Toyota Ventures and Felicis, and announced a 1.4-million-tonne carbon-removal agreement with Microsoft in April 2025. The company reported up to 53% more above-ground biomass in greenhouse and growth-room trials; the US Department of Agriculture determined the trees did not require regulation, and the first engineered poplars were planted in Georgia in February 2023. Some scientists quoted by MIT Technology Review and Smithsonian Magazine say greenhouse results may not translate to the field, and Living Carbon says its published data is early and that most of its present impact comes from conventional reforestation. An early Georgia project was certified under the American Carbon Registry. It develops Reforesting Degraded Appalachian Mine and Agricultural Lands.