Single.Earth
Forests are the foundation of life - but it’s under threat from deforestation and forest degradation. Millions of hectares of forest are lost permanently each year because they are more valuable cut down than standing. If nothing is done up to 420 million acres of forest could be lost between 2010 and 2030. Additionally, the ownership of land is not clear-cut. In many of the world's largest rainforests, there are various 'landowners' for the same piece of land, and proof of land ownership is extremely difficult.
What is the Solution?
Single.Earth proposes to give forest owners an alternative value to their forests by paying them to not clear their land. The company proposes to make nature a tradable commodity in its own right. Right now, it is easy to earn carbon credits for planting a tree in a new place, but not for keeping one. Under Single.Earth’s plan, investors who buy in to preserve a piece of natural land would receive nature-backed credits in the form of a virtual currency called MERIT Token. Natural areas like forests and wetlands will be able to be profitable for more than the resources to be extracted from them or what could be built on them.
To tokenize the world’s nature, Single.Earth is on a journey to create a full digital twin of earth’s nature that maps and values every forest and wetland on the planet. Read more about how you can support their journey on their website.
What EQT loves about Single.Earth
At EQT, we actually loved this case so much that EQT Ventures decided to invest and you can read their full announcement here.
From EQT Foundation's side, we see it as absolutely critical that we succeed in integrating the value of nature and ecosystem services into our financial system, and therefore, we also support researchers in closing the data gap between the biosphere and the economy. More on the type of research we support here.
We also dream of the day when it will become more profitable for landowners of the Amazon rainforest to keep "nature-as-it-is" than to sell it off. But in order for that to happen, we will all need to push together for a price on nature that reflects its true value.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, we recommend picking up Tony Juniper's book [object Object] A fascinating read on how nature provides the ecosystem services that underlie our economies.
And if you haven't already, join the movement for nature-backed finance here.
ThinQ is the must-bookmark publication for the thinking investor.
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