Forest Carbon Credits

The ask

Develop and sell verified carbon credits from Bangladeshi forests — primarily the Sundarbans mangrove system and community reforestation projects in the CHT and coastal belt — to international voluntary market buyers.

Why now

Mangrove carbon credits now command $15–40 per tonne on the voluntary market, two to three times the rate for terrestrial forest, because mangroves sequester carbon at 3–5 times the rate of tropical forest per hectare and provide co-benefits (storm surge protection, fisheries) that biodiversity-premium buyers will pay for. The Verra VM0033 and Gold Standard Blue Carbon methodologies are mature enough to apply to the Sundarbans. Corporate net-zero commitments are creating durable demand that shows no sign of slowing.

Why Bangladesh

The Sundarbans — shared with India — is the world's largest mangrove forest and is under active deforestation pressure. BD's share (roughly 600,000 ha) is almost entirely unmonetised in carbon terms. REDD+ and Article 6.2 bilateral deals between BD and Gulf states are actively being negotiated, meaning the policy window is open. The Forest Department has been trying to attract private capital into mangrove restoration since 2019 — a project developer with international verification credentials can move quickly.

As a business

A project developer signs a 20–30-year agreement with the Bangladesh Forest Department (or community land holders in coastal chars), bears the upfront cost of baseline measurement, monitoring, and Verra/Gold Standard registration, and then sells the resulting verified credits to corporate buyers or brokers. Revenue is per-tonne credit sales; the developer keeps 30–50 % after payments to the Forest Department and community benefit-sharing. At $20/tonne and 100,000 tonnes/year from a modest project, that's $2M/year gross.

Economics

Move the sliders to model your own forest carbon project. Defaults are order-of-magnitude estimates — pressure-testing them is part of what a founder pitches us.

What ZEPH would back

We want a founder with Verra or Gold Standard project-development experience — ideally someone who has already registered a blue-carbon or mangrove project in Southeast Asia — who can navigate BD's Forest Department and build the government partnership. First-mover advantage here is enormous; the founder who locks up a 50,000-ha Sundarbans concession in the next two years will own a generational asset.

Impact

The Sundarbans mangrove system sequesters carbon at 3–5× the rate of terrestrial tropical forest per hectare, meaning a well-structured project across Bangladesh's 600,000-ha share could generate hundreds of thousands of verified tonnes of CO₂e credits annually — directly countable against corporate net-zero commitments worldwide. Beyond carbon, a functioning credit project creates the economic incentive to maintain the mangrove buffer that protects 3–4 million Bangladeshis from storm surge and cyclone damage, turning coastal protection into a bankable asset. Community benefit-sharing wired into the project structure generates livelihood income for fishing and forest-dependent communities who currently have no economic stake in conservation.