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The Trust for Governors Island is partnering with a New York-based climate change technology firm to refine measurements of how nature-based carbon removal works in an urban setting. Founded in 2022 (and based in the Meatpacking District), Chestnut Carbon specializes in “afforestation” – the process of cultivating woodlands on land that has not been forested for many decades, thus converting barren or idle acreage into new tree groves. The company’s program has planted more than 46 million trees on 70,000-plus acres across nine states in the southeastern United States. This is the equivalent of five times the area of Manhattan. The program’s goal is to remove 100 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere during the lives of these trees.
In addition to planting saplings, Chestnut Carbon also monitors their contribution to climate-change mitigation, with its proprietary Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) technology. This platform relies on monitoring via a smartphone app to gauge each tree’s height, health, and mortality, while also identifying its species and quantifying it carbon-sequestration performance. The data not only improves land management of the forest, but also gives users access to verifiable (and auditable) accounts that can be bought, sold, and traded in carbon-credit markets. Chestnut Carbon monitors forests for U.S. landowners in 37 states.
Although forests are known to be the single most prodigious carbon-removal mechanism in the world (far outpacing any human-devised system), the lack of tools for precisely measuring their climate benefits has been a crucial roadblock to scaling up investment in the sector.
On Governors Island, Chestnut Carbon is working with Trust’s horticulture and landscaping teams to establish several research plots in Hammock Grove, a 10-acre experimental urban forest with more than 1,300 trees. For the next two years, the Chestnut team will use MRV platform to study the performance of native tree species, and compile an accurate data set about their impact on the local environment. In addition, the company will plant chestnut trees in the grove.
“Chestnut Carbon supports the restoration and conservation of forestland across the country for long-term carbon sequestration, enabled by their unique technology and innovative business model,” said Lauren Wang, director of climate programs at the Trust for Governors Island.
Sarah Ford, the chief forestry officer at Chestnut Carbon, added, “this pilot will deepen our understanding of carbon sequestration and ecosystem benefits in an urban forest setting while advancing the science of nature-based carbon removal.”
Matthew Fenton
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