Pantheon Regeneration, a startup specialising in nature-based solutions, has announced a new investment from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. This funding is intended to aid the expansion of Pantheon’s ecological restoration projects, which focus on biodiversity revival and atmospheric carbon removal.
Founded in 2023, Pantheon is engaged in developing, financing, and managing projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while restoring ecosystems. Their inaugural project, the Pocosin Ecological Reserve I (PER I), stands as one of the first commercial peatland restoration initiatives in the United States.
The company highlights peatland restoration as a highly impactful nature-based climate solution, given the substantial carbon density of peatlands. When drained, these peatlands transform from long-term carbon sinks into significant carbon sources, releasing large quantities of CO2 as the soil dries and oxidises. Restoring wet conditions prevents organic matter decomposition, allowing peatlands to resume their role as carbon sinks, thereby drawing down atmospheric carbon and preventing CO2 release.
Pantheon asserts that its projects not only rapidly remove CO2 from the atmosphere and generate significant carbon credits but also regenerate essential wetlands, thus offering meaningful biodiversity and water co-benefits.
Tripp Wall, CEO of Pantheon, remarked, “Support from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund is a profound game-changer. The Pantheon team has been driven from day one by the enormous potential of our ecosystem restoration work to deliver the type of landscape scale climate solutions the planet needs and the carbon credit quality and volumes the market craves.”
Microsoft’s new investment complements its broader carbon removal strategy, which encompasses both nature-based and engineered solutions capable of scaling to meet global climate commitments. As the largest corporate purchaser of carbon removal credits globally, with acquisitions nearing 31 million tonnes, Microsoft initiated its Climate Innovation Fund in 2020 with a commitment of $1 billion to foster new climate technologies.
The investment is expected to accelerate Pantheon’s project pipeline and enhance delivery capacity. Erika Basham, Director of the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, stated, “We’re thrilled to support Pantheon Regeneration’s mission to restore ecosystems and remove carbon from the atmosphere. Their innovative approach aligns with our goal to invest in scalable, science-based solutions that not only remove emissions but also deliver co-benefits such as biodiversity and water impacts. This investment underscores our focus on supporting scalable, high-integrity climate solutions and the innovative teams that deliver them.”
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