How Pachama Uses Tech to Solve Climate Change

Saez Gil describes growing up near Argentina’s Yungas rainforest, founding a travel app that was acquired, and later starting smart luggage company Bluesmart. After airline battery restrictions hurt Bluesmart, he reflected on using technology to address climate change and researched forests as a way to capture carbon.

Saez Gil says forest restoration and conservation lack funding partly because project certification can take two years and cost $100,000 to $400,000. He also describes buyer concerns about credibility, including whether projects capture the carbon they claim and whether credits are counted more than once. Pachama aims to use satellite imagery, LiDAR, and machine learning to monitor forests, then connect projects directly with buyers.

The platform uses remote sensing and convolutional neural networks to estimate forest biomass from LiDAR point clouds, with models trained on field measurements. Saez Gil says the approach showed less than 1.5% error in one New England carbon estimate. Buyers can view project locations, updated satellite imagery, photos, and information about benefits such as biodiversity, water conservation, and local jobs.

At the time of the interview, Pachama had onboarded more than ten forest projects in the U.S. and Brazil and closed more than ten customers. Saez Gil describes corporations as the main buyers, alongside regulated industries and a growing voluntary market. He says climate companies still need scalable business models, and advises people exploring the field to research for a year, speak with experts, and look for software opportunities such as optimizing grids, travel, shipping, and agriculture.

Saez Gil distinguishes forest conservation, improved forest management, reforestation, and afforestation, and explains that forests provide benefits beyond carbon capture. He argues that more transparent data and standardized accounting can build trust, while regulations such as carbon pricing or emissions requirements could strengthen incentives for polluters to reduce and offset emissions. Pachama’s longer-term ambition, as described here, is a data platform for understanding ecosystems.