Increasing the durability, scalability, and biodiversity of restored forests with machine learning.
CDR Type
Reforestation
Location
Brazil
Focus Areas
Reviewed potential to operationalize large-scale reforestation and generate high-quality removals.
Evaluated the provenance of seedstock and seedling genetics.
Assessed local nursery capacity and supply chains.
In January of 2024, Microsoft signed a memorandum of understanding for up to 1.5 million-tonne carbon dioxide removal deal with Mombak, a Brazil-based project that specializes in reforestation of degraded pasture land using native and biodiverse tree species.
Mombak’s reforestation commitments include planting over 30 million new trees over 70,000 acres in the Amazon basin — an area equivalent to the size of five Manhattans. Leveraging natural, indigenous-based regeneration practices together with cloud technology, Mombak increases the biodiversity, durability, and scalability of its restored forests by adhering to ecological conditions specific to its Amazonian biome. Mombak scientists use machine learning and drones to identify the highest-potential sites for reforestation and, together with neighboring communities, safeguard planting sites with robust fire readiness and prevention measures.
"As Microsoft works to become carbon negative by 2030, our partnership with Carbon Direct is important to diligencing and procuring the highest-quality carbon removal projects. We’re excited to work with Carbon Direct and Mombak on a project with significant carbon, social, and environmental benefits."
Brian Marrs
Senior Director, Energy and Carbon Removal, Microsoft
Carbon Direct Diligence
Carbon Direct’s landscape decarbonization experts visited the reforestation sites in the state of Pará, and worked directly with Mombak’s in-house science team to identify and provide recommendations to address any credit delivery risks.“Mombak has brought an impressive team and organizational strategy to its large-scale effort to reforest the Amazon,” says Dr. Letty Brown, Senior Forest Scientist at Carbon Direct. “Based on an in-depth analysis of their work, Mombak is well-positioned to operationalize successful large-scale reforestation and generate high-quality removal credits.”
Behind the Credit
How Mombak removes carbon dioxide
The Mombak project buys or leases degraded cattle pasture in the state of Pará and reforests it using native Brazilian species. The project focuses on land in two, high-priority geographic clusters: the Mãe do Rio northern region and a future more southern region in the Amazon. Mombak employs a proprietary, spatially-explicit reforestation model that defines where to implement different reforestation methods that leverage natural regeneration potentials.
To overcome the main barriers to reforestation — competition with exotic grasses and defoliation by leaf-cutter ants — Mombak uses agrochemical and organic inputs to increase plant growth and resilience, while monitoring biodiversity in neighboring waterways to mitigate impacts to community and ecosystem health.
What’s Next
Looking ahead, Microsoft, Carbon Direct, and Mombak will be working together to continue to identify and implement strategies that will ensure the long-term success of the project for climate impact.
“We try to build the markets that we buy from,” says Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy and Carbon Removal at Microsoft. “We hope that Mombak is a model for the future. We want to see it in jurisdictions in and beyond Brazil."