Two biodiversity credit developers are among the eight members of a cohort focused on nature technology and innovation launched by network Climate Collective.
US-based Savimbo and Columbia-headquartered Terrasos are among the group, which also includes nature monitoring-focused company Landbanking Group.
“The goal of this new nature and biodiversity cohort is to enable a close-knit community of nature tech pioneers that together are greater than the sum of their parts,” said Anna Lerner, CEO of Climate Collective.
“While we expect the cohort to expand over the coming year, we prioritise meaningful connections [over] scale and will be looking for groups that offer complimentary technology, market solutions, or underrepresented locations,” Lerner told Carbon Pulse.
Climate Collective is a community of entrepreneurs, investors, non-profits, and scientists aiming to use technology to help tack the climate and nature crisis.
Since its launch in 2021, it has provided $4 million in grants to start-ups implementing 58 projects across 19 countries. The network’s support for the biodiversity cohort will begin with advice, with no capital set aside for it specifically at this stage.
The biodiversity cohort stands to learn lessons from other Climate Collective members working across carbon markets on solutions applicable across both sectors, Lerner said.
“Only 5% of top 500 companies have set biodiversity targets – as public finance will not be enough, it’s critical to secure support from corporations and private finance,” she said.
“Nature tech is still lagging climate tech in terms of funding, in 2023 alone climate tech companies raised $32 billion, while nature tech raised just over $7.5 bln between 2018 and 2022.”
Other members of the biodiversity cohort are:
- InvestConservation – blockchain nature investment
- Morfo – drone-based ecological restoration
- Taking Root – smallholder-focused tree growers
- Kuyua – AI-powered nature analysts
- GainForest – fund that uses AI to measure nature stewardship
By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com
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