Apple’s first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative, the Restore Fund is making headway on investments in forestry projects to remove carbon from the atmosphere while generating a financial return for shareholders. The company released a progress report showing its current projects exceeding their initial goals.  

The projects are managed by BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which is working to restore and protect natural ecosystems, Symbiosis, with reforesting projects in the Atlantic Forest of Bahia, and Arbaro Advisors, which is working on the recovery of decimated eucalyptus forests in Paraguay. Apple uses credits from carbon projects to offset emissions in processes where solutions are not yet available or where they are difficult to reduce. The goal is to reduce emissions by 75% in relation to the level recorded in 2015. 

Founded in 2008, Symbiosis has been collecting, banking, and planting seeds from mother trees of various Brazilian native species since 2010. To calculate the carbon stored on its land, Symbiosis has integrated Space Intelligence’s satellite data, ecological knowledge, and machine learning to create land cover, land cover change, and forest carbon maps.

Since their first planting, which consisted of 160 different species spread across an area that will be permanently protected from wood harvesting, Symbiosis has expanded its restoration of threatened native trees. After planting 800 hectares of biodiverse forestland, the company has ambitions to plant over 1 million seedlings on 1,000 hectares in 2024 alone. 

Satellite data is integrated with readings from the ForestScanner app, which takes field measurements with the LiDAR scanner on iPhone to determine age and growth rate. “They’re helping us to screen properties and land use — how much pasture area, forest areas, and retroactive deforestation,” Alan Batista, Symbiosis’s chief financial officer explains. 

All projects selected for the Restore Fund undergo regular assessments to monitor forest change and growth over time, address fire and other potential risks, and verify forest carbon stock. As part of this analysis, Apple and partners — including Space Intelligence and Upstream Tech — have used innovative tools such as LiDAR on iPhone, satellite data, bioacoustic monitoring, and machine learning to evaluate the wellbeing of the land and project progress. 

Bruno Mariani, founder and CEO of the forest management and investment company Symbiosis, one of the companies responsible for managing the projects, says that the cultivation of species works as a basis for restoration, allowing the reinvigoration of fauna. He also states that the region will be protected from logging. According to studies by Symbiosis, there is a potential for substantial reforestation of the Atlantic Forest.

“Nature provides some of the best tools to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Forests, wetlands, and grasslands draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it away permanently in their soils, roots, and branches,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “Through creating a fund that generates both a financial return as well as real, and measurable carbon impacts, we aim to drive broader change in the future — encouraging investment in carbon removal around the globe. Our hope is that others share our goals and contribute their resources to support and protect critical ecosystems.” 

Progress reports for Arbaro Advisors, which is building a portfolio of forestry projects across Latin America and BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which is working to restore and protect natural ecosystems are not known. Arbaro Advisors are managing Apple’s first Restore Fund project to develop sustainably managed eucalyptus farms while strengthening livelihood opportunities for local communities and protecting natural ecosystems in the project area. 

Since 2018, all of Apple’s corporate offices, data centers, and retail stores worldwide have been powered by renewable electricity. In 2020, Apple achieved carbon neutrality for its global corporate operations and announced Apple 2030: a bold strategy to be carbon neutral across its entire value chain by 2030. 

Launched with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, Apple’s $400 million fund aims to remove at least 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, equivalent to the amount of fuel used by over 200,000 passenger vehicles, while establishing a viable financial model that can help scale up investment in forest restoration. Apple expects the portfolio to exceed its goal of removing 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air by 2025.