What It Takes to Finance Nature: Greg Adams of Chestnut Carbon

Greg Adams - CFO of Chestnut carbon (Greg's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-adams-0ba79a5/)

https://chestnutcarbon.com/

What does it actually take to finance nature at scale — not in theory, but in practice?

In this episode, Troy Carter speaks with Greg Adams, about what it took to turn large-scale reforestation in the U.S. into something banks, buyers, and long-term capital could support.

Greg walks through Chestnut’s journey from early land acquisition to signing long-term offtake agreements with Microsoft, and ultimately closing one of the most significant project finance deals the nature-based carbon market has seen to date. The conversation goes deep into why contract structure matters, why land ownership changes the risk profile, and how lessons from energy and infrastructure finance can be applied to forests.

They explore:

• Why long-term offtake agreements are foundational for scaling nature projects

• What made Chestnut’s reforestation projects bankable to major lenders

• How quality, integrity, and cost discipline have to coexist

• The role of registries and standards in building buyer confidence

• Why carbon markets need fewer “snowflakes” and more common structure

• How conservation can be both high-integrity and financially durable

This is a candid, practical conversation for developers, financiers, buyers, and anyone trying to understand what it will take for restoration and reforestation to move from pilot projects to real infrastructure.