Firms Including Amazon To Buy $180 million In Carbon Credits From Namesake Rainforest

Amazon and several other companies have committed to purchasing carbon offset credits totaling around $180 million to support the preservation of the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Pará. This purchase will be made through the LEAF Coalition, an initiative Amazon co-founded in 2021 alongside other corporations and governments, including the United States and United Kingdom.

This deal marks LEAF’s first major agreement in the Amazon rainforest, the largest in the world, which plays a critical role in combating climate change by absorbing vast amounts of greenhouse gases. Details of the agreement were shared exclusively with Reuters by Pará’s government and the LEAF Coalition. Pará Governor Helder Barbalho plans to announce the deal during New York Climate Week, which features hundreds of events parallel to the UN General Assembly.

Governor Barbalho emphasized the symbolic significance of Amazon, a company named after the rainforest, making its first carbon credit purchase from a region within the Amazon itself. Amazon confirmed the deal in a statement, highlighting the role of tropical forest preservation in addressing the global climate crisis.

Despite a general slowdown in global demand for carbon credits, other tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, and Google have also invested in Brazilian carbon offsets this year. In this particular deal, Amazon, Bayer, BCG, Capgemini, H&M, and Walmart will collectively purchase 5 million carbon credits at $15 per credit, significantly above the global average of $4.49 for nature-related carbon offsets.

Each credit corresponds to the reduction of 1 metric ton of carbon emissions from reduced deforestation in Pará between 2023 and 2026. An additional 7 million credits will be available for other companies to buy, with the U.S., U.K., and Norwegian governments guaranteeing a portion of these credits if there are no corporate buyers.

Pará will host the UN COP30 climate summit next year, central to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s efforts to rebuild Brazil’s environmental standing after years of increased deforestation. While Pará has been the leading state for deforestation since 2005, the destruction has been on a decline since 2021, with a 20% reduction from the previous year, according to preliminary government data.