Symbiosis Announces Technical Advisory Board of Leading Scientists and Experts to Guide Nature-Based Carbon Removal Criteria

PERSPECTIVE WRITTEN BY JULIA STRONG

Symbiosis exists to catalyze the market for the next generation of high-integrity nature-based carbon removal and to show the world how to restore nature with the strongest confidence in impact – integrating best-in-class science with rigorous measurement and equitable approaches to stakeholder engagement. Today, we take a major step forward by announcing our Technical Advisory Board (TAB), which brings together nine leading experts from across disciplines to guide our criteria for evaluating impact. This marks the first time a coalition of major companies will have nature restoration efforts collectively informed by the same independent scientific panel.

Translating Diverse Evidence into Impact

Science shows that protecting and restoring ecosystems could deliver massive climate benefits. Nature already absorbs 7.6 gigatons of CO₂ each year – more than 1.5 times U.S. annual emissions. Ecosystem restoration, like reforestation and agroforestry, could remove at least an additional 3 gigatons of CO₂ annually by 2030. 

Turning this potential into a robust supply of high-integrity carbon removal projects requires clear, science-based criteria that help developers understand what quality looks like and give buyers confidence that their purchases deliver real climate impact. Quality goes beyond simply measuring carbon removed. Critically, criteria for high-integrity removal must require net positive outcomes for Indigenous peoples and local communities, biodiversity safeguards, and financial transparency. Ecological integrity and social benefits aren’t co-benefits; they’re co-drivers of success that determine whether carbon removal happens and endures.

Building and evolving these interwoven criteria, and ensuring projects can meet them, requires bridging insights across multiple disciplines – from carbon accounting and ecology to finance and community engagement. These fields often operate in isolation, but advancing the next generation of projects means translating this knowledge into unified criteria that buyers can trust and developers can implement on the ground. Take, for example, how to better standardize how the industry accounts for the albedo effect (the amount of solar radiation that reflects off of the earth's surface), a key factor that remains largely unaccounted for in current frameworks, or how to ensure a project delivers carbon removal that wouldn't have occurred otherwise (additionality) and doesn't simply shift deforestation or degradation elsewhere (leakage).

As an advanced market commitment, Symbiosis is catalyzing the next generation of projects that meet these challenges head on. We build on the best available science and standards to adopt quality criteria and guide project selection. We aim to bridge the gap between scientific advances and the realities of on-the-ground implementation, translating cutting-edge science and best practice into replicable project evaluation frameworks and guidance.

By sharing lessons learned openly, we help developers strengthen their projects and give buyers confidence in their climate impact. In doing so, we aim to expand both the number of buyers and the supply of high-quality projects, building the market needed for nature-based solutions to scale and the world to meet its climate goals. 

The TAB is an essential part of creating a feedback loop to catalyze a robust supply of high-integrity removal: science shapes criteria, criteria guide project selection, and project outcomes generate new insights that refine both the science and project criteria. As we work toward our goal to contract 20 million tonnes of removal credits by 2030, the TAB ensures we uphold the highest standards – enabling a strong demand signal for both scale and integrity across the market. 

The Expertise Behind Our Criteria

The TAB convenes nine experts from across disciplines to identify which approaches reflect the latest science and best practice, and translate that into criteria and approaches we can use to evaluate projects. Building on existing frameworks like the ICVCM's Core Carbon Principles, the TAB helps us identify which standards represent best-in-class science and what additional project-level criteria are necessary to have the highest certainty in impact. 

The TAB members hold positions at leading institutions – including The Nature Conservancy, Yale University, University of California, Irvine, Cambridge University, Federal University of Southern Bahia, and others – and their expertise spans every critical aspect of nature-based carbon removal – from different disciplines, ecosystems, and regions. 

Together, the TAB members will:

• Ensure our quality criteria are up to date based on current scientific evidence and best practice, including via annual reviews of the latest research and standards

• Review existing standards and research to recommend quality criteria for new project types over time

• Advise on advanced technical challenges in project sourcing and development

• Ensure our approach reflects the most conservative carbon accounting methods, confers net positive outcomes to communities, and supports biodiversity

• Connect academic research to the practical challenges of implementing restoration at scale

Read more about each member below:

Early Action and Insights

During our initial RFP, we reviewed 185 complete proposals from 49 countries, covering 6.6 million hectares with potential for 180 million tonnes of CO2 removal over 10 years. These projects demonstrated both global interest in high-quality restoration finance and the opportunity for clear, science-based criteria to drive meaningful scale.

While the projects we reviewed generally scored high on ecological integrity and stakeholder engagement during the early screening phase of the RFP, many revealed gaps in conservative carbon accounting and durability planning. These findings validate exactly why the TAB is essential: translating scientific advances into practical guidance that helps developers strengthen their projects while giving buyers confidence in climate impact.

What’s Next

We're now in the final diligence stage of our first RFP and expect to announce our first project offtake agreements later this year. Symbiosis intends to launch its next RFP – including mangroves in addition to reforestation and agroforestry – in Q1 of next year.

As part of its initial work, the TAB will advise on – based on scientific advances since Symbiosis first launched – whether the Coalition should revise its Reforestation and Agroforestry quality criteria ahead of its next RFP and recommend its first version of the mangrove quality criteria. 

Symbiosis will continue to engage with other experts, NGOs, standards, and other market stakeholders to inform updates to our quality criteria and RFP project evaluation, and to contribute to collective efforts to advance shared standards and integrity – ensuring that science can translate into solutions that actually work on the ground and lead to real climate impact at scale. 

For updates on our work and future RFPs, visit symbiosiscoalition.org. 

Symbiosis TAB members follow a conflict-of-interest policy that requires them to recuse themselves from TAB discussions on projects in which they or their organizations are directly involved. Members may accept or decline a modest honorarium, in line with best practice. Thanks again!