Chestnut Carbon

Inside the project

Founded in 2022 with backing from energy-focused asset manager Kimmeridge, Chestnut Carbon develops nature-based carbon-removal credits by converting degraded, marginal agricultural land across the Southeastern United States into native forest. Its flagship Sustainable Restoration Project (an afforestation, reforestation and revegetation, or ARR, programme) is the largest U.S.-based afforestation project on the Gold Standard registry and is projected to remove over 100 million tons of CO2 over its lifetime.

On 30 January 2025 Chestnut signed a forward-starting 25-year offtake agreement with Microsoft for more than 7 million tons of U.S.-based carbon-removal credits, building on an initial 2023 agreement. The company estimates this work will restore roughly 60,000 acres by planting over 35 million native hardwood and softwood trees across Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas, and aims to scale its portfolio to 500,000 acres by 2030.

Chestnut runs two product lines: afforestation/ARR removal credits from replanting old farmland, and Improved Forest Management (IFM) credits supporting conservation of privately owned, at-risk forests. It pairs land acquisition with proprietary, patented site-screening and MRV technology, and has attracted institutional capital including a $160 million Series B (February 2025) and a $210 million J.P. Morgan-arranged credit facility (August 2025), one of the first commercial project-finance structures for a carbon project of this scale.

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Chestnut Carbon (press/site image)Image source ↗

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Objectives

• Restore marginal and degraded Southern agricultural land to native, biodiverse hardwood-and-pine forest
• Deliver durable, high-integrity carbon-removal credits verified to Gold Standard criteria
• Scale the afforestation portfolio to 500,000 acres by 2030 and remove 100+ million tons of CO2 over project lifetimes
• Supply long-term corporate net-zero buyers (e.g. Microsoft) with credible, additional removal credits backed by commercial project finance

Approach

• Chestnut applies a patented land-screening and MRV technology that selects properties by soil type, rainfall and suitable native species, then plants a biodiverse mix of hardwood and pine seedlings matched to each region's conditions. Stands are monitored continuously throughout the project lifetime, and under the Gold Standard methodology credit issuance only begins at year 5 to confirm real, established growth before removals are claimed.
• Verification runs against Gold Standard criteria (project IDs include GS 23278 and GS 12135), and Chestnut is additionally certified under the FSC Verified Impact programme for biodiversity conservation (FSC-C180518). The company also references proprietary digital tools (a land/explorer platform and field carbon-measurement devices) to support accurate, auditable measurement, reporting and verification of removals.