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Diego Gil
CEO of Pachama, focused on restoring nature to solve climate issues
Diego Saez Gil is a climate-tech entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Pachama, a company dedicated to restoring nature to combat climate change. Pachama leverages artificial intelligence and satellite data to monitor and finance reforestation and conservation projects, aiming to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of carbon offset initiatives. Under his leadership, Pachama has raised over $90 million from notable investors, including Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Y Combinator, and has been recognized as one of the most innovative AI companies by Forbes and Fast Company.124
Born in Tucumán, Argentina, Diego has a background in entrepreneurship, having previously co-founded travel-tech companies Bluesmart and WeHostels, both of which were acquired by larger firms. He studied entrepreneurship at Stanford Graduate School of Business and has also pursued education in project management and engineering.134 His work at Pachama is driven by a commitment to environmental sustainability, particularly following personal experiences with climate change, including losing his home to California wildfires.24
Diego has received numerous accolades, including being named an Innovator Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review and a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. His mission with Pachama is to bridge technology and environmental conservation, helping businesses achieve their sustainability goals while restoring vital ecosystems.134
Highlights
Today I’m writing to share some truly exciting news: @PachamaInc is joining forces with @Carbon_Direct to create the definitive leading science-driven climate solutions platform!
Carbon Direct is an amazing science-first organization that combines technical and commercial expertise to decarbonize the global economy. Their 70+ scientists work closely with their finance and market experts to design, diligence, and deliver decarbonization solutions at scale across industries. From Microsoft to JPMorgan, they helped over 150 companies with CDR, carbon measurement, clean power opportunities, low-carbon energy solutions and other complex climate challenges. I’ve gotten to know their team over the years and have always been impressed by their deep care for scientific rigor and business integrity.
At Pachama we spent the last 7 years investing heavily in innovative solutions at the intersection of AI and geospatial data to help unlock investments into high-quality nature-based carbon sequestration. Along the way, we helped hundreds of customers deploy tens of millions of dollars into reforestation and forest conservation projects around the world, restoring millions of hectares of precious land. These projects empowered local economies and enhanced local ecologies, all while ensuring a quantifiable climate benefit for the planet. And we helped modernize carbon markets by openly sharing our innovations blending the latest advancements in LiDAR, satellites and machine learning applied to land-based carbon.
Today, Carbon Direct is acquiring Pachama and we’re integrating our business into them. A big part of our team is coming along for this new phase of our journey, as we continue to serve our customers and partners like before, except now being able to offer even more solutions for their sustainability journeys. I will be taking the role of Sr. Vice President of Strategic Engagement, to stay close to customers, partners and all key stakeholders in the market. We will keep investing in innovative solutions harnessing AI and geodata to unlock the capital needed to address climate change and ecological integrity, now with even more resources.
This is just the beginning of a new chapter on our journey and I can’t wait to see the impact that we will have from here on. But I want to take this opportunity to express my eternal gratitude to everyone who supported us up until this point. All the incredible team members that worked for the mission over the years, all the investors that invested in the company, all the customers that trusted our solutions, all the projects that entrusted us with their credits, all the communities who supported our engagements, all the partners with whom we explored alliances for the common good. We co-created something truly special, always keeping our mission as the north star and never compromising on our values of integrity, excellence, tenacity and purpose. The mission continues. Onwards!
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