Mombak Delivers First Amazon Reforestation Carbon Credits More Than Two Years Ahead of Schedule

Brazil-based carbon removal developer Mombak has completed its first deliveries of carbon credits generated through reforestation projects in the Amazon, marking an early milestone for efforts to scale nature-based carbon removals.

The company issued more than 21,000 carbon removal credits from projects restoring degraded land in the Brazilian Amazon. Buyers receiving credits include Google, McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Climeworks, Commons, McLaren Racing and Union Square Ventures. Some of the credits delivered to Google, McKinsey and McLaren Racing arrived more than two years ahead of their expected delivery dates.

The issuance follows several years of investment by Mombak in restoring degraded agricultural and pastureland through native, biodiverse forests. Reports on the first issuance indicate that the company has planted close to 15 million native trees across 12 farms in the Amazon.

Restoring Degraded Amazon Land

Mombak develops large-scale carbon removal projects primarily by converting degraded and unproductive pastureland into native forests. Rather than relying on monoculture plantations, the company's projects use multiple tree species native to the Amazon alongside assisted natural regeneration.

As these forests grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store carbon in vegetation and soils. The measured removals can then be converted into carbon credits following monitoring, verification and certification procedures.

The model is intended to generate benefits beyond carbon sequestration. Restoring native forest can support biodiversity, improve watershed conditions and create employment associated with planting, forestry management, monitoring and fire prevention.

Nature-based carbon removal nevertheless involves long-term risks that buyers and developers must manage. Forest carbon can be affected by fires, drought, illegal logging or changes in land use. Credible projects therefore require safeguards that address permanence, additionality, leakage, and the accuracy of carbon measurements.

These issues have become particularly important as voluntary carbon markets face increased scrutiny over whether individual credits represent genuine and durable climate benefits.

First Project Selected by the Symbiosis Coalition

Mombak's projects are also closely connected with the Symbiosis Coalition, a corporate buyer initiative created to accelerate the development of high-quality nature-based carbon removal.

The coalition was launched in 2024 by companies including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce. It has established an advance market commitment to contract more than 20 million tonnes of nature-based carbon removals by 2030.

Mombak became the first restoration project selected by the coalition after Symbiosis evaluated 185 projects across more than 40 countries.

Advance purchase agreements are increasingly being used to finance carbon removal projects because restoring ecosystems requires substantial investment years before forests generate significant quantities of verified carbon removal.

Under these arrangements, corporate buyers commit to purchasing future credits, giving developers greater certainty about future revenues. That can reduce investment risk and make it easier to raise the capital required for land acquisition, planting, monitoring and long-term forest management. Symbiosis itself identifies long-term offtake agreements as an important mechanism for reducing demand risk and unlocking project finance.

Delivering credits earlier than originally forecast, therefore, provides an important operational signal for both buyers and investors, particularly in a market where project delays and uncertainty about future credit supply can complicate corporate carbon removal strategies.

Google Expands its Relationship with Mombak

Google is already one of Mombak's largest corporate customers.

The companies initially announced an agreement in 2024 covering 50,000 tonnes of carbon removal. In November 2025, Google expanded the relationship with an agreement to purchase an additional 200,000 tonnes of CO2 removal, four times the size of the initial transaction.

Google has said that Mombak's approach combines native, biodiverse reforestation with measures intended to improve the durability and integrity of the removals.

The companies are also collaborating on biodiversity monitoring. Google plans to use Google DeepMind's Perch artificial intelligence technology, which can analyse bioacoustic recordings from ecosystems, to help assess biodiversity outcomes associated with Mombak's restoration projects.

Mombak has separately entered into major carbon removal agreements with Microsoft, including a deal covering 1.5 million tonnes of carbon removal from Brazilian reforestation projects.

From Future Promises to Delivered Removals

The significance of Mombak's first issuance extends beyond the relatively modest initial volume of just over 21,000 tonnes.

Much of the emerging carbon removal market operates through contracts for tonnes that will only be delivered years into the future. Such agreements can help finance projects, but they also expose buyers to execution risk if projects fail to remove the expected amount of carbon or experience substantial delays.

The first deliveries therefore provide evidence that at least part of Mombak's project portfolio has progressed from planting and projected sequestration into independently issued carbon removals that can be transferred to customers.

For corporate buyers, this distinction is increasingly important. Carbon removal procurement strategies need to consider not only the quantity and price of contracted credits but also the probability that those removals will eventually be delivered, how they are measured, and how long the captured carbon is expected to remain stored.

Reforestation will not eliminate the need for companies to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. However, credible carbon removal is expected to play a complementary role in addressing residual emissions that are difficult to eliminate.

The challenge for the expanding nature-based carbon removal sector will be demonstrating that projects can combine scale with reliable measurement, ecological integrity and long-term durability.

Mombak's early Amazon deliveries offer one practical example of that transition. The more important test will come as the company and other developers attempt to move from tens of thousands of issued credits to the millions of tonnes already contracted by corporate buyers.

Source: www.esgtoday.com