Solarpunk Enterprises

One forest first, then many

Every Solarpunk Enterprises project gives a real forest its own digital identity and a way to be paid for the services it provides. We start with one pilot and prove it works. Then we take the model to forests in other regions.

A sunny clearing surrounded by dense rainforest in Solarpunk Forest.

Project 01: pilot, in development

Solarpunk Forest, Costa Rica

35 hectares of wet tropical rainforest on the southern Caribbean side of Costa Rica: the first forest with its own digital identity (NFT, token ID 1).

Started
July 2023
Financing
Private, by the founders
Services
Carbon, biodiversity, water, soil, pollinators and more

Meet Solarpunk Forest

The next forests

The pilot is a template. Once it works, the same model can give any forest a digital identity and a fair income from the services it provides.

Many forest owners and countries are asked to protect forests for the good of everyone else, with nothing in return. The western world has already cut most of its forests for timber, yet expects the countries that kept theirs to provide those services for free. A model that pays forests directly changes that.

The next extension of the pilot is aimed at a temperate forest in Romania, from 2027. How the method adapts to other forests

Every new forest must be natural or naturally regenerating, protected from logging while it takes part, and looked after by local stewards. Criteria and steps for joining

Own or steward a forest? Bring it to the model

The sun setting over forested hills in the Talamanca region.

Roadmap

Each forest goes through the same three phases. Solarpunk Forest is the first to do so.

  1. Phase 1

    Digital identity for forests

    We begin by creating a digital identity for each forest: an NFT that captures its unique characteristics. The NFT stays in the possession of the forest's owner.

    Solarpunk Forest: prototype

  2. Phase 2

    Tokenising ecosystem services

    We measure the forest's ecosystem services, starting with the carbon it adds each year, using the Stored Carbon Increment (SCI) methodology. Once a year, the verified increment is minted as tokens on the forest's NFT: one token per tonne of CO2 removed from the atmosphere.

    Solarpunk Forest: proof of concept

  3. Phase 3

    Engaging with customers

    An online marketplace where companies lease forest services directly, like booking a stay: they pay the forest for storing their emissions and receive tokens as the record of each tonne stored. The forest's NFT stays with its owner.

    Solarpunk Forest: planned

  4. Scale

    New forests, new regions

    With the pilot proven, the model is repeated with new forests and local partners, financed by a first funding round that we are preparing. Invest in the scale-up

Help take the model to new forests

Solarpunk Forest is privately financed. Scaling it needs partners and funding.

Invest in the scale-up All ways to get involved