Brazil has some of the largest tropical forest areas on Earth, but they are under intense pressure. The Atlantic Forest on the country’s east coast once covered 350 million acres, but only 12 percent of that remains, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The Amazon rainforest, mostly located in Brazil, is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, but about 20% of its forest area has been lost in the past 50 years.
Brazilian environmental restoration company Re.green wants to restore these lost forests in an economically viable way and relies heavily on technology to do so. Last week, the company was awarded the prestigious Earthshot Award, founded by Prince William, in the “Nature Conservation and Restoration” category. The award’s CEO, Jason Knauf, told CNN in an email that the award is for “innovative ways to revitalize tropical forests using cutting-edge technology.”
First, the startup uses AI algorithms to analyze scientific data and satellite imagery to identify the best areas to implement restoration projects, such as unproductive and degraded lands across the Amazon and Atlantic forests. They then acquire land by purchasing it or leasing it from farmers and ranchers for terms of 50 years or more.
The algorithm then prescribes from a dozen restoration models and recommends specific reforestation techniques depending on the environment. This could range from intensive reforestation efforts in areas that are accessible to machines to more hands-off regeneration approaches elsewhere, re.green CEO Thiago Picolo told CNN.
In remote areas with little infrastructure, the startup uses drones for most agricultural tasks, including planting seeds. All sites have been restored with a diverse range of native species, often grown at Bioflora, a tree nursery that re.green acquired in 2021 (the same year the company was founded) and has the capacity to grow 2 million seedlings annually.
“Regardless of which method we use, the end goal is always the same: to restore a fully restored, fully functioning tropical forest that is as close as possible to the original forest that existed before deforestation occurred,” Picolo says.
The algorithm also provides a regional financial model based on the price re.green paid for the land and the estimated amount of carbon it can sequester from the atmosphere over time. This will help the company determine how to monetize the land and pay for restoration costs.
One option is sustainable forestry. Piccolo explained that in some areas, instead of planting dozens of diverse forest species, just five to 10 native species can be planted and harvested as high-value wood for furniture and flooring in about 20 years. “This allows us to earn higher returns than other methods. It is especially useful and necessary in mechanizable regions with good access to infrastructure. These regions are more expensive, so more financial models are needed to increase returns,” he said.
Another option is to convert degraded land into forests, generating carbon credits that companies can buy to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon credit schemes have been widely criticized for their lack of transparency and accountability, but Piccolo said re.green’s scheme had clear “additionality”, meaning it could clearly show that an area would not have been reforested otherwise, and that calculations about how much carbon was sequestered were verified by independent auditors before credits were issued.
This year, re.green agreed to sell approximately 3.5 million tons of carbon removal credits to Microsoft in a deal to restore 33,000 hectares (82,000 acres) of forest. This is in addition to a similar contract signed in 2024 for 3 million tonnes. We also partnered with Nestlé to restore 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of the Atlantic Forest in southern Bahia.
Forest restoration is capital-intensive and it is important to keep forests economically viable, Picolo said. “Tropical forests offer a lot of value to us as a society, and they offer a lot of value to asset owners. Our job is to find monetizable assets and make them profitable. By making them profitable, we can scale faster.”
Re.green hopes to raise $60 million in funding by the end of 2025 to expand its AI and satellite technology. We believe the Earthshot Prize will help accelerate this by increasing visibility, fostering partnerships with large companies and contributing to research and development.
The company has so far planted more than 6 million saplings on 30,000 hectares in four Brazilian states. The goal is to plant 65 million saplings by 2032.
Knauf noted that “the scalability and replicability of the solution” is essential to how Earthshot Award Board members select the winners. “Re.green has sparked a wave of change through its pioneering and innovative technology,” he said, adding that he hopes the win will help the company “build a new economic sector for large-scale ecosystem restoration.”
