The Next Web · May 2026
Reports that Octopus Energy Generation committed $500 million to Living Carbon and that corporate buyers purchased credits from its Appalachian projects.
maximizing biomass on low quality land
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 16, 2026
Overview
Living Carbon is a climate tech company focused on restoring degraded land through reforestation and carbon removal projects, with an earlier biotech effort around engineered trees. Its current core business appears to be developing nature-based carbon removal and related forest products on degraded land.
Primary product
Nature-based carbon removal via reforestation / afforestation projects on degraded land; historically also engineered trees for enhanced photosynthesis.
Founded
2019
Headquarters
San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
Team size
20-30 employees
Industry
Environmental Services
Sub-industry
Carbon Removal / Reforestation / Climate Technology
Offices
San Francisco
Business model
carbon credits
project development / offtake agreements
bioproducts / woody feedstock
Funding
Stage
Series A + later project finance/offtake agreements
Total raised
$549.1M
Latest round
project finance / strategic offtake agreement with Octopus Energy Generation · Apr 2026
Latest amount
$500M
project finance / strategic agreement with Octopus Energy Generation
Apr 2026 · Octopus Energy Generation
Jan 2023
People & investors
Leadership
CEO & Co-founder
Co-founder; former CTO
Director of Carbon Science
Work & culture
Public evidence indicates a mission-driven climate/biotech culture centered on restoring degraded land and scaling carbon removal. No reliable public employee handbook or benefits page was found.
Compensation
No public compensation policy or salary data was found in primary sources.
Product & market
Pricing
Primarily long-term carbon credit offtake agreements and project finance; may also sell sustainable forest products / woody feedstock.
Differentiators
- —Focus on degraded / abandoned mine land rather than intact forests
- —Native-species reforestation and land restoration
- —Long-duration carbon offtake agreements with major corporate buyers
- —Earlier biotech work on engineered trees, but current operations emphasize native species
- —Positions projects as both carbon removal and ecological restoration with co-benefits
Technology
biotech / synthetic biology
tree genetics
carbon science / MRV
reforestation project development
Customers
Google
Meta
McKinsey
Microsoft
Octopus Energy Generation
Competitors
Chestnut Carbon
Heirloom
Lithos Carbon
Applied Carbon
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
Likely low-to-mid single-digit millions to low tens of millions USD annually; public evidence is insufficient for a precise estimate.
Latest news
Living Carbon · Apr 2026
Living Carbon said Octopus Energy Generation will provide $500M of project finance and nearly $13M of direct investment, backing up to 50 million tons of CO2 removal over 40 years and expanding long-term carbon-removal scale.
Octopus Energy · Apr 2026
Octopus confirmed the $500M US project-finance commitment and nearly $13M direct investment into Living Carbon, framing it as part of a broader US clean-energy push.
Symbiosis Coalition · Mar 2026
Google, Meta, and McKinsey contracted 131,240 tonnes of carbon removal over 10 years from Living Carbon’s Appalachian reforestation projects under Symbiosis’ first RFP.
Living Carbon · Mar 2026
Living Carbon announced long-term agreements with Google, McKinsey, and Meta for 131,240 tonnes of carbon removal over 10 years from Appalachian reforestation projects.
Jobs and careers at Living Carbon
2 jobs at Living Carbon
Land Partnerships Associate / Senior Associate
Remote
Commercialization
Remote
1mo ago
Remote
Full-time
Senior Project Forester
Remote
Commercialization
Remote
2mo ago
Remote
Full-time