Our History
Focus on insights and action, for our climate
The story of Underground Forest begins in 1992 with one crucial insight and is far from over.
The seed of the idea
When the UN Climate Framework was adopted in 1992, founder Kees de Gruiter realised the objectives were unattainable. The ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough overlooked one crucial factor: human nature. Expecting the world to stop using fossil fuels before a cheaper alternative was available was simply unrealistic. A different approach was needed.
"Stop Burning Biomass!"
Kees had the opportunity to share his vision at a European conference on biomass. At the time, many scientists still believed biomass was an emission-free alternative. Kees realised, however, that coal is essentially also biomass, just 300 million years older. It became clear to him that the only way to truly achieve climate goals is to massively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and prevent every source of atmospheric CO₂ emissions. He summarised his message in a groundbreaking article: STOP BURNING BIOMASS!
The founding of Underground Forest
Fast forward to 2023. Kees decides to turn his decades-long vision into action and founds Underground Forest. The concrete plan: foundations in peat and clay soils must again be built with wooden piles, a proven and natural way to remove CO₂ long-term.
Our first major milestones
A breakthrough year for the organisation. We received the coveted ONCRA certification and realised our first projects, including an important pilot in collaboration with the Peat Meadow Innovation Centre and the Province of Zuid-Holland. This was also the year we sold our first carbon credits and successfully raised broader funding via Carbonfix and Uncompromise.
Ready to scale
The foundation of Underground Forest has been laid. We closed a new funding round in which Uncompromise made a follow-on investment and Guido van Els joined as Co-Founder and CEO. With the hiring of Ivo Wouters as CCO and Carolina Pulido Tellez as Head of Administration & Certification, our core team is complete. We are ready to further scale our impact.
To be continued...
CO₂ removal when building homes, roads and other construction projects — this is how we are on our way to a megatonne of CO₂ removed.
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