In a recent funding agreement worth US$20 million, Salesforce.com's CEO, Marc Benioff, along with other prominent investors, has decided to increase their ownership in a company that connects businesses seeking to offset emissions with timber owners who are willing to postpone harvesting for a fee. As part of this agreement, Benioff will also join the board of SilviaTerra, a firm that will soon change its name to NCX. This development comes in light of the burgeoning forest offsetting industry, with BP's acquisition of a controlling stake in Finite Carbon, a rival of NCX, being a notable event last year.
Marc Benioff is of the opinion that companies will face mounting pressure from both investors and customers to offset emissions that cannot be completely eliminated. SilviaTerra initially launched with a capital of US$4.4 million and primarily catered to Southern pine growers, offering offsets at a rate of US$17 per offset. NCX, with assistance from Microsoft, which has already purchased US$3 million worth of offsets, has been able to map US forest data and expand its services to include timber-related activities. By the autumn, NCX aims to provide offset options from landowners across all 48 contiguous states of the US, and it has ambitions to operate on a global scale.
