FOREST CARBON AND BIODIVERSITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP
November 28th, 2022 at 2:00pm ET
The voluntary carbon market recently reached $2 billion, doubling in 1 year. A few savvy business models are succeeding in the Amazon region. Who are these entrepreneurs? Who are the buyers? What are the impacts on biodiversity and what is the biodiversity market?
Mariana Sarmiento
Terrasos
Mariana Sarmiento founded Terrasos in 2013 as an initiative to impact the social, economic and environment development of the country with strategies of environmental protection that linked to all civil society actors. In 2012, when the first Compensation Manual came out in Colombia, Mariana identified that there was going to be a need to generate solutions for companies that had to meet their obligations and for the country to have compensation projects that would accelerate the deployment of investments. She had worked in 2009 in the United States in an organization that managed Habitat Banks in Mississippi for the infrastructure sector and saw first-hand the benefits and the impact it generated. She began to work with the owners of the Rey-Zamuro Matarredonda Reserve and BIDLab to create a pilot project and later, with the Ministry of Environment to generate a regulatory framework that catalyzed the development of Habitat Banks in both public and private properties.
Luis Cruz Villares
Amazon Sustainability Foundation
Luiz has a Master’s degree in International Management “with distinction” from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA; and a Bachelor of Business Administration from PUC-SP. He has been the Administrative-Financial Superintendent of FAS since its creation in 2008 He has extensive experience in the administrative-financial area, with emphasis on human resources, marketing, systems, exports, finance and controls, with a history of working in companies such as Aços Villares, Elevadores Atlas, Alcoa Alumínio, Sílex Trading, PRG International. In the socio-environmental area, he began his work conducting environmental studies as Superintendent Director of ECP Sistemas Ambientais and held a leadership position in renowned institutions such as the Peabiru Institute.
The Foundation For Amazon Sustainability (FAS) is a non-profit civil society organization operating in the Amazon. It promotes regional development through research, development and innovation activities.
Peter Fernandez
Mombak
Peter is a startup advisor, investor, and co-founder and CEO of Mombak. Mombak is working to become the world’s largest carbon removal company, starting by reforesting the Amazon. Peter is the former CEO of Brazilian ride hailing company 99, which became Brazil’s first unicorn upon acquisition by China’s DiDi Chuxing at a $1B valuation. He is an angel investor and advisor to over 20 tech startups in Brazil and the United States. Peter was previously Head of YouTube and Mobile for Google Latin America, and before that was Head of Latin America for AdMob, a tech startup that was acquired by Google.
Cinthia Caetano Carvalho
Future Carbon
Cynthia has a bachelor degree in Law, from the Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in Brazil and a Master in International Development from the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals in Spain, where she wrote a thesis on the multistakeholder governance of conservation policies and studied global governance, economic growth and sustainability, development finance, conflict over limited resources, emerging powers, social movements, and ongoing trends in livings standards inequalities. She has worked for 10+ years on the private sector and in civil society and has professional and academic experience in the analysis of public policies relevant to the natural resources and capital, governance and sustainability; corporate social responsibility; program evaluation; as well as climate and development finance.
Michael Green
Carbon Capital Advisors
Mike serves as the Executive Director of Climate XChange, a Boston based organization focused on providing research and technical support to carbon pricing policies and market development. He is an advisor to governments and private sector partners on setting smart climate policies. Mike has worked with organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations to develop market-based policies, and serves as a liaison between policy makers and business leaders.
