Enviva and GreenTrees Partner to Remove 90,000 Metric Tons of CO2e through Afforestation and Nature-Based Carbon Removal Credit Programs in Southeastern U.S.
This project breathes new life into land that is no longer viable for agriculture while providing alternate sources of income to rural landowners within Enviva’s operating footprint
BETHESDA, Md. & THE PLAINS, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Afforestation—Enviva (NYSE: EVA), the world’s leading producer of sustainably sourced woody biomass, and GreenTrees, the market leader in reforestation and carbon removal in the U.S., today announced a nine-year partnership agreement that will contribute towards Enviva’s net-zero goals for its Scope 1 carbon footprint, equating to approximately 10,000 metric tons of carbon removal credits annually, or 90,000 metric tons throughout the duration of the contract.
“We are excited to partner with GreenTrees to help minimize our net carbon emissions and implement local solutions to meet net-zero goals,” said Thomas Meth, President and CEO of Enviva. “As part of the forest products industry, it is important that we utilize a forest-based offset. While Enviva’s long-term focus is to reduce our Scope 1 emissions through energy-efficient projects and substitution of fossil fuels, this partnership will help reduce our net emissions in the short term and positively impact the health of the forests in Enviva’s operating footprint.”
The GreenTrees afforestation project with Enviva will take place in the rural U.S. Southeast, on land formerly used for agriculture but has been deemed no longer suitable for farming and crop growth due to soil erosion and water damage. The afforestation of this land will not compete with lands used for agricultural and food sources, but will revitalize the land and serve as permanent carbon removal. This partnership will also provide a new source of income for rural landowners in the GreenTrees program who are no longer able to use the land for agriculture.
“It’s an honor to partner with Enviva and work alongside a company on their path to net zero,” said Chandler Van Voorhis, co-founder and managing partner of GreenTrees. “We are equally thrilled that in addition to the environmental impact of reducing carbon emissions and restoring previously overworked land to its natural beauty, the landowners GreenTrees partners with will now have another sustainable source of income for their property.”
The path to achieving a net-zero future requires many tools, including third-party verified investments in reforestation and land equity. This partnership contributes to Enviva’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions commitment and represents a ∼14% reduction of Enviva’s 2021 Scope 1 footprint. Likewise, GreenTrees’ nature-based carbon removal credits align well with Enviva’s strict sustainability standards. Enviva is focused on high-quality carbon credit projects that promote afforestation and reforestation in the company’s region of operations, as well as projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere and enhance local carbon stocks.
All carbon credits in GreenTrees’ projects undergo a rigorous verification process by the American Carbon Registry. GreenTrees’ verified carbon credits are widely accepted today by major environmental markets, and Fortune 500 companies trust them to meet sustainability goals and mitigate climate change. In winter 2022/2023, GreenTrees’ credits will be the first reforestation credits to be auctioned by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
About Enviva
Enviva Inc. (NYSE: EVA) is the world’s largest producer of industrial wood pellets, a renewable and sustainable energy source produced by aggregating a natural resource, wood fiber, and processing it into a transportable form, wood pellets. Enviva owns and operates ten plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 6.2 million metric tons per year in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi, and is constructing its 11th plant in Epes, Alabama. Enviva is planning to commence construction of its 12th plant, near Bond, Mississippi, in early 2023. Enviva sells most of its wood pellets through long-term, take-or-pay off-take contracts with primarily creditworthy customers in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan, helping to accelerate the energy transition and to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors like steel, cement, lime, chemicals, and aviation fuels. Enviva exports its wood pellets to global markets through its deep-water marine terminals at the Port of Chesapeake, Virginia, the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and from third-party deep-water marine terminals in Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, and Panama City, Florida.
To learn more about Enviva, please visit our website at www.envivabiomass.com. Follow Enviva on social media @Enviva.
About GreenTrees
GreenTrees is the market leader in reforestation and carbon removal in the U.S. A model land equity program for landowners, GreenTrees generates the largest number of forestry carbon removal credits in the U.S. The only carbon removal program open to both small and large landowners, GreenTrees engages individual landowners to plant forests, measure the growth annually and convert the annual growth into carbon credits. All carbon credits in GreenTrees’ projects undergo a rigorous verification process by the American Carbon Registry and are accepted by global environmental markets as the highest standard for quality in nature-based carbon removals. Wholly owned by ACRE Investment Management, LLC, GreenTrees has engaged 600+ landowners ranging from 10 to 3,500+ acres and planted 130,000+ acres of forests that have removed more than six million metric tons of carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere; these existing planted acres will remove a projected 30 million metric tons over the next 40 years; additional plantings will grow carbon removal capacity significantly as GreenTrees’ parent company’s affiliate platform company, ACRE IO, will accelerate planting velocity for GreenTrees and other independent projects. Fortune 500 companies trust GreenTrees’ carbon credits to meet sustainability goals and combat climate change. For more information about GreenTrees, visit https://www.green-trees.com/.
Contacts
Jacob Westfall
Phone: 240-856-0324
Email: Jacob.Westfall@envivabiomass.com
Elizabeth Buccianti
Gabriel Marketing Group (for GreenTrees)
Phone: 407-463-8865
