Forest investment and management firm EFM announced today a new long-term agreement with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner Meta for the delivery of 676,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits through 2035, generated through the transition of U.S. forestland to “climate-smart management.”

Launched in 2004, Portland, Oregon-based EFM is a real estate asset manager focused on investing in natural climate solutions across the Americas, including using climate-smart management approaches to its investments in forests, farms, and ecosystems to create carbon sinks, protect water and biodiversity, improve recreational access, and support rural livelihoods, and diversifying revenue streams from forests to include carbon credits and conservation easements alongside revenue from traditional forest products. The firm has acquired more than 200,000 acres of forestland and has approximately $490 million of assets under management and advisement.

The new agreement will support the transition of the Olympic Rainforest is a 68,000-acre coastal temperate rainforest located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, which to date has been primarily managed for commercial timber production.

While the property is currently estimated to store more than 10 million tonnes of CO2, EFM said that transitioning from industrial timber management to the proposed Improved Forestry Management (IFM) project is anticipated to deliver more than one million additional tonnes of removals over the next decade. EFM also highlighted a series of additional benefits from the project, including enhancing biodiversity, salmon habitat restoration, and collaboration with state and tribal agencies to enhance public access and boost tourism.

EFM CEO Bettina von Hagen said:

“This long-term contract enables us to manage forests for their greatest value to society—producing high-quality timber, creating diverse, healthy habitats for wildlife and recreation, and collaborating with tribes to restore salmon populations—all while significantly increasing carbon storage. We’re deeply grateful to Meta for recognizing the critical role forests play in addressing climate challenges and for sharing our vision of high-quality carbon projects that enhance the long-term value of our forests.

According to EFM, the contract with Meta was negotiated in parallel with the property acquisition, as opposed to most carbon finance deals in which credits are sold only after securing ownership, with the agreement helping to enable the transaction and de-risk the transition to climate-smart management practices.

The agreement forms part of Meta’s strategy to achieve net zero emissions across its value chain by 2030, which includes a focus on reducing emissions, and addressing residual emissions through carbon removal. Meta helped launch the Symbiosis Coalition last year alongside tech giants Google, Microsoft and Saleforce, an advance market commitment to contract up to 20 million tons of nature-based carbon removal credits to help support the development and growth of the nature-based carbon removal market. In September 2024, Meta entered a deal to purchase up to 3.9 million tons of reforestation-based carbon removal credits from BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group.

Tracy Johns, Carbon Removal Lead at Meta, said:

“We support high-impact projects, and EFM’s extensive track record in sustainable management of forests made them an ideal partner and aligned with our goals. Our commitment to this project supported EFM’s efforts to take an approach to forest management that not only drives strong climate and forestry outcomes, but also provides real value and environmental services to local communities.”