About Us
TerraCarbon LLC is an advisory firm that supports the development of forest and land based projects and programs that generate measurable benefits to the world’s climate, wildlife, and people. We believe that forests and market-based solutions are critical to addressing the challenges of climate change, water quality, biodiversity loss, and poverty alleviation.
We provide a range of advisory services that address the multi-faceted nature of forest and land based ecosystems and help our clients measure and communicate the environmental and social benefits of their work. Our extensive project experience, range of subject matter experts, and collaborative, problem-solving approach sets us apart.
Our History
TerraCarbon was formed in 2006 by Scott Settelmyer, former CFO of the Chicago Climate Exchange, and Dr. Bernhard Schlamadinger, one of the world’s leading forest carbon experts. Scott and Bernhard recognized the significant potential of the forest and land use sector to reduce greenhouse gases and deliver valuable environmental and social co-benefits, and the power of markets to reach this potential by providing results-based incentives. They also understood that specialized expertise was needed to help navigate the complexities of quantifying these benefits and transacting credits in these markets.
Our Environmental and Social Commitment
TerraCarbon is a Certified B Corporation which means we meet higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, and have adopted a legal framework which legally requires us to consider the impact of our decisions on our employees, suppliers, community, consumers, and environment. It is a way of demonstrating that our business has a higher purpose than simply profit, and that is contributing to the protection and restoration of the world’s forest and critical ecosystems for the benefit of the world’s climate, wildlife, and people.
As a company, we “walk the talk” and are committed to offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions that we generate from travel and office usage. Last year, we offset nearly 200% of our emissions with contributions to support forest carbon projects undertaken by Go Zero and carbonfund.org.
We are also proud and active members of the Conservation Finance Alliance which is a network of professionals seeking to solve the challenges of sustainable finance for conservation.
Our Approach
Collaboration: Effective projects requires the collaboration of various stakeholders. We collaborate by listening to our clients and building project teams that include client staff and local people.
Trust: The trust of our clients and partners is critical to building a successful collaboration. We build trust by being transparent and consistently delivering on our commitments.
Capacity Building: Sustained success of restoration and conservation project activities depends on building strong local capacities. We freely share knowledge and help train local people to help build these capacities.
Science: The markets for ecosystems services are credible only if they are supported by sound science. We hire and partner with experts in the fields of conservation, forestry, forest ecology, and remote sensing sciences.
