I Avoid Disaster – and Do the right thing! CO2OL-USA, Missoula, leads the way in the Forests of the World

What do you think?

Tell us what you do (or what your team or organization does) and the specific challenge you faced.

"The fundamentally important lesson of ecology is that the the world is "integrated".

Keegan Eisenstadt
president and ceo, CO2OL-USA
http://www.co2ol-usa.com/
Missoula – MT US

FastCompany.com Fast 50

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(Many thanks to Bridget Cavanaugh of Cavanaugh Public Relations
http://cavanaughpr.com/ ofc: 406.464.7433 | mbl: 406.320.5000 for finding this article and bringing this company to our attention. MATR is always interested in learning about new and exciting companies in Montana. Please feel free to send articles or URLS’s so more can learn about the growing economic success in Montana.- Thanks Russ)

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Not only the natural world, but increasingly we see the integrated nature of human society, economics, the environment, and even human beliefs. Our Company, CO2OL-USA takes an integrated approach to solve three chronic problems of 21st century society: rural poverty in developing countries, global warming, and biodiversity and forest habitat loss. CO2OL-USA reforests degraded and abandoned lands in the tropics with native species forests. We hire local peoples that otherwise lack any meaningful source of employment, train them in our forestry operation, and sell streams of certified fine tropical timber and Carbon Credits. The timber affords our investors a healthy return in time, and the carbon credits provide a revenue stream to pay local labor and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by Kyoto compliant companies and/or countries. All the while, the native species forests rehabilitate former wastelands and native biodiversity returns to places it had long abandoned. the stakes are high, higher than ever in the history of humanity. If we fail, the planet will no longer be a comfortable place for our species. The jury is no longer out – it’s how we behave in the next few years that will determine the extent and intensity of the problems we will face. The poor of the planet will be disproportionately affected. CO2OL is one way to use market principles to positively effect the moral and ethical issues of climate change. In big terms, the market caused these problems – making it particularly compleling to use the market to help solve them.

What was your moment of truth?

My partners and I were particularly interested in finding ways to improve the social and biological benefits associated with tropical forestry. The forests not only produce beautiful woods, but can also be a transformative economic crop – leading to a better human and biological future. After many months of discussion, the integration of poverty, climate change, and biodiversity loss was the key to a sustainable forestry solution. By diversifying markets and clientelle we found a way to economically make the forest worth more standing than cut. The obstacles were starting an integrated (read complicated) company without seed capital. Convincing governments in developing countries that our project was indeed good for their national development. Convincing investors that climate change forestry in developing countries would yield results. Continuing to proceed while the international policy makers kept talking about ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, about how a CO2 market might work, and other debates raged, we at CO2OL were slowly plodding along with growing trees and selling carbon credits.
(The exact date? 7/14/1998)

What were the results?

We have developed an incredibly interesting, but modest, client base of small companies and enlightened individuals that are interested in offsetting the greenhouse gas emissions from their production processes and lifestyles. Our clients have enabled CO2OL to reforest it’s initial 10 Hectares in 1998, and grow to managing roughly 500 Hectares of reforested lands today. Our reforestation product not only produces carbon credits but has rejuvinated communties that the global market had passed by. People are healthy, the land is regenerating, monkeys have returned after just 4 years of forest growth in some places, and we are hoping to dramatically expand after we find that one large corporate client that wants to purchase carbon credits through a socially and environmentally responsible investment that, incidentally, retuns a handsome profit in 25 years.

What’s your parting tip?

With crisis comes opportunity. Do not be afraid of the risks. The risk of inaction is significantly greater.

http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_02/profile/index.html?eisenstadt30