Newly planted loblolly pine seedlings
(PRNewsfoto/American Forest Foundation)
The American Forest Foundation (AFF) announced today that Netflix has committed to a 15-year contract to purchase verified carbon credits produced through AFF's Fields & Forests project (F&F), an Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) carbon project that partners with family landowners to transition their underused fields to thriving, working forests. Netflix's investment will help launch the first 6,000 acres and expand the project across the U.S South, providing additional revenue streams to rural landowners while planting trees to combat climate change.
"Netflix's partnership shows what's possible when business and nature come together. With the right investment and science, natural climate solutions can be both a powerful and credible tool to address our most pressing conservation challenges." said John Ringer, Senior Director of Project Finance and Environmental Markets at AFF. "We're grateful for Netflix's leadership, and we invite other companies to follow their lead by investing in new approaches that support America's rural communities and family-owned forests."
Netflix provided critical early-stage financing for F&F through an innovative financing approach: milestone prepayments. By tying upfront financial support to key milestones such as acres enrolled, milestone prepayments help F&F offer robust financial and technical resources to more landowners.
F&F is designed for small-acreage landowners who have historically been locked out of the voluntary carbon market due to high upfront costs and programmatic complexity. To make the project accessible, AFF pays for and handles all site preparation and tree planting, and provides landowners with ongoing technical support and annual payments throughout their 30-year contracts.
To date, F&F has enrolled 2,500 acres of family-owned lands, set to plant 1.4 million new trees, and committed $2 million to landowners in the form of direct payments. By 2032, F&F aims to enroll 75,000 acres, estimated to produce 4.8 million carbon credits and support family landowners across the U.S. South, with aims to continue growing the program beyond that scale.
"This land is my only connection to my grandma. And I want it to provide for my daughter as she grows up," said Alisha Logue, a Georgia landowner enrolled in F&F. "Fields & Forests has given me a way to protect and ensure my family's legacy."
To learn more about how AFF supports rural communities, nature, and the planet through F&F, visit: https://familyforestcarbon.org/fieldsandforests/
About The American Forest Foundation
The American Forest Foundation is a national organization that empowers family forest owners to deliver meaningful conservation impact. The organization's programs, the Family Forest Carbon Program and the American Tree Farm System, help landowners implement forest management practices to care for the health and productivity of their woodlands. To learn more about the American Forest Foundation and the Family Forest Carbon Program, visit www.forestfoundation.org.
Source: American Forest Foundation
