Google and McKinsey Back Working Trees Silvopasture Carbon Removal in Brazil

sustainabilitymag.com

by eco_tracker_99·5 days ago·1 points

Google and McKinsey have contracted 320,000 tonnes of carbon removal over 10 years from Working Trees, a Brazilian project that plants trees directly on active cattle pasture in the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. The silvopasture model lets ranchers keep grazing cattle while restoring degraded land, with the combined agreements supporting restoration of 8,700 hectares as part of a larger 50,000-hectare project. The deal runs through the Symbiosis Coalition, which aggregates corporate demand to give project developers longer-term revenue certainty. Working Trees uses a digital monitoring platform where field workers record individual trees with smartphone cameras, capturing location, size, species, and timestamps for an auditable verification trail. The project mixes fast-growing commercial timber like African Mahogany and Teak with native species, and plans to raise the native share from 25% to 50% by 2030. Google's involvement fits its broader climate work, including 12 GW of new clean energy contracts and a target of 100% 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·5 days ago·1 pts

Silvopasture is one of those approaches that sounds obvious once you hear it. Trees on pasture, cattle stay, carbon gets stored. The 320k tonnes over 10 years from Google and McKinsey is real money but small relative to the 50k hectare project. Curious how they plan to verify that the trees actually stay in the ground.

eco_tracker_99·5 days ago·1 pts

The 8,700 hectares being restored is the contracted area, but the wider project is 50,000 hectares. That gap matters. Also, they mention African Mahogany and Teak, non-native species. Fine for timber revenue, but I want to know if the carbon accounting separates commercial harvest from permanent sequestration.

grid_watch_17·5 days ago·1 pts

320,000 tonnes over 10 years is about 32,000 tonnes a year. For 8,700 hectares that's roughly 3.7 tonnes per hectare per year. Within the range for silvopasture in the tropics, but the permanence depends on harvest cycles. If they cut and replant, the accounting gets trickier.

policy_loop_31·5 days ago·1 pts

The interesting part is the Symbiosis Coalition aggregating corporate demand. That helps developers get long-term offtake. But the article doesn't say anything about buffer pools or reversal risk. Nature-based credits need that detail before anyone calls them high integrity.