Forest Trends
Forest Trends is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit founded in 1999 that pioneers market-based conservation finance through research, policy advocacy, and field programs in partnership with Indigenous communities, governments, and utilities worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Forest Trends does
Forest Trends is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) founded in 1999 that develops market-based and financial mechanisms to conserve forests and other ecosystems. It operates six programmatic sub-brands: Ecosystem Marketplace (market intelligence and the State of the Market reports), the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP), the Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI), the Forest Policy, Trade and Finance (FPTF) Initiative, the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security (NIWS) project, and the Protect What Matters communications program. Its core products are publicly available research and market-intelligence reports, technical frameworks (e.g., REDD+, biodiversity credits, ecosystem-service valuation), capacity-building workshops, and direct field implementation of nature-based solutions in partnership with Indigenous communities, government agencies, and utilities. Underlying technology includes AI-assisted satellite imagery analysis, blockchain-based supply chain ledgers, environmental DNA detection, wireless sensor networks, acoustic monitoring, and geospatial valuation frameworks that translate stewardship into quantifiable, financeable ecosystem services.
The organization is funded primarily through grants and donations from foundations, individual donors, and institutional supporters, supplemented by in-kind contributions from research publication activities. Its go-to-market is sales-led in form but nonprofit in mechanism: convening multi-stakeholder coalitions, publishing flagship reports that shape transparency in voluntary carbon and biodiversity markets, training Indigenous leaders and government staff, and serving as a policy advisor to bodies ranging from USDA Forest Service to Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. Customer segments include government water utilities (49 of 50 in Peru), Indigenous Peoples and local communities, national policymakers, private companies facing supply-chain and ESG compliance, and forest health practitioners in wildfire-prone U.S. regions. The business model is donor-dependent and grant-funded; products and reports are distributed free of charge to maximize reach, with monetization occurring indirectly through influence on the multi-billion-dollar private nature-investment market that Forest Trends itself helps measure and shape.
Forest Trends firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Forest Trends
- Legal name
- Forest Trends Association
- Website
- https://forest-trends.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Forest Trends is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit founded in 1999 that pioneers market-based conservation finance through research, policy advocacy, and field programs in partnership with Indigenous communities, governments, and utilities worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Forest Trends industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Conservation Finance & Environmental Advisory
- NAICS
- Support Activities for Forestry (11531), Support Activities for Forestry (1153)
- SIC
- Forestry (800)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Forest Carbon Projects & Ecosystem Services (Carbon Credits, Biodiversity) (IMAMAAAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Carbon Accounting, Verification & Registry Services (MRV, Audits, Certification) (IMAMAJAE), Carbon Markets & Climate Finance (Offsets, Allowances, Carbon Funds) (FSAAALAH), Sustainable Real Assets (Green Real Estate, Land, Forestry) Funds (FSANAJAD), Forestry & Reforestation (BPAGAGAD), Nature & Biodiversity Reporting (TNFD, natural capital) (EUAHAJAM)
Keywords
Where Forest Trends is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Forest Trends business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Donor Contributions and Grants: Gifts from donors allow Forest Trends to increase the impact of their programs and support local partners. The organization nurtures next big ideas, invests in champions and coalitions driving change, and applies expert analysis and field-informed leadership. Funding comes from foundations, individual donors, and institutional supporters.
- Research and Publication Services: Forest Trends generates impact through publishing timely research and flagship reports including the State of the Voluntary Carbon Market, State of Private Investment in Nature, and other market intelligence reports that inform conservation finance decisions globally.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Forest Trends product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Forest Trends pioneers innovative finance for conservation by promoting environmental investments, payment mechanisms, and incentive structures for forests, water, climate, biodiversity, and community ecosystems. The organization delivers flagship market intelligence research (State of the Market series), coalition-building with governments, Indigenous communities, and businesses, and on-the-ground implementation of conservation finance and natural infrastructure projects.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ecosystem Marketplace: Forest Trends' flagship program publishing timely research on ecosystem markets, carbon markets, and nature-based solutions.
- Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP)
- Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI)
- Forest Policy, Trade and Finance (FPTF) Initiative
- Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project (NIWS)
- Protect What Matters
Products and services
- EM Global Carbon Hub (Ecosystem Marketplace)
- Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP)
- Natural Infrastructure for Water Security Project (NIWS)
- Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative (CTGI)
- Protect What Matters Communications Workshop
- Forest Policy, Trade and Finance (FPTF) Initiative and IDAT Dashboards
- Forest-risk Commodity Dashboard
Quantifiable outcome
- Nature-based solutions investment in Peru grew from under $12 million in 2016 to $80 million in 2023—the highest in Latin America
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Forest Trends
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Forest Trends technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature4 records
Forest Trends partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- Brazil Ministry of Indigenous PeoplescoreHistoric two-year project 'Strengthening Indigenous Territories: Governance, Climate Finance, and Biodiversity Value Chains' spanning all six Brazilian biomes (Amazon, Cerrado, Caatinga, Pantanal, Pampa, Atlantic Forest). Includes climate finance support, territorial governance, biodiversity value chain development, and training of 240 Indigenous leaders with at least 40% women and youth.
- GreenDatacoreBrazilian organization implementing partner for Forest Trends projects, developing solutions to promote value of territories, knowledge systems, and sustainable practices of traditional communities. Supports autonomy, wellbeing, and community resilience through social technologies and participatory methodologies.
- USDA Forest ServicecoreMulti-year partnership for the 'Protect What Matters' communications workshop program to support coordination of government, industry, utilities, and other entities to protect and restore the nation's forests. Focuses on Colorado Front Range with plans for broader national relevance.
- The Nature ConservancycoreCo-publishing the 'Gaining Ground: State of Private Investment in Nature 2026' flagship report, finding that private investment in nature has grown substantially over the past decade with over $60 billion deployed. Annual flows increased fivefold from $2.8 billion in 2016 to over $14 billion in 2025.
- International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity CreditscoreCollaborated on comprehensive global mapping of government-led approaches to nature credit markets, the first systematic study drawing on interviews with over 70 stakeholders from more than 35 countries.
- Environmental Policy Innovation CentercorePartnered with Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace on the global mapping study of nature credit markets, identifying three market archetypes and covering 19 operational frameworks spanning six continents.
- GreenCollarflagshipOne of three experts introducing a practitioner-led forum on integrity issues in nature-based carbon markets, including topics such as exaggerated emission reductions, questionable additionality, and stakeholder impacts.
- Calyx GlobalflagshipOne of three experts introducing a practitioner-led forum on integrity issues in nature-based carbon markets, aiming to fill a gap between academic journals and fast-paced media commentary with monthly contributions organized around quarterly themes.
- Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)coreFoundational grassroots Indigenous organization consulted in designing the 'Strengthening Indigenous Territories' project, ensuring decisions reflect Indigenous perspectives across all six Brazilian biomes.
- Rights and Resources InitiativecoreForest Trends co-founded the Rights and Resources Initiative (now 150+ organizations globally) in 2004, which has become a global leader in advancing Indigenous and community land rights.
- Katoomba GroupcoreForest Trends launched the Katoomba Group in 1999 to bring together thinkers and doers shaping markets for nature. Marked its 25th anniversary with a gathering in Australia.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Forest Trends competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Climate Focus: Specialist advisory and research firm focused on REDD+, climate finance, and nature-based solutions policy. Closely comparable in mission, methodology (policy analysis, coalition building), and target audience (governments and multilaterals pursuing nature finance).
- World Resources Institute: Global research organization with parallel work on forest monitoring (Global Forest Watch), carbon markets, MRV, and corporate sustainability disclosure. Highly comparable as a DC-headquartered, think-tank-style operation producing open-access data products used by the same set of policymakers and corporates.
- Meridian Institute: Boulder-based nonprofit that designs multi-stakeholder processes and convenings on natural resources, energy, and climate—directly comparable to Forest Trends' facilitation, coalition-building, and policy mediation operating model.
- Earth Innovation Institute: NGO focused on jurisdictional approaches to forest protection, sustainable commodity supply chains, and Indigenous-led economies—closely matching Forest Trends' coalition model and tropical forest focus in Latin America.
Broad incumbents
- Rainforest Alliance: Operates forest certification, sustainable supply-chain programs, and corporate engagement on deforestation-free commodities. Overlaps with Forest Trends on traceability, due-diligence tooling, and the EUDR compliance stack while operating at greater commercial scale.
- Conservation International: Major global environmental NGO that works on forest carbon, biodiversity credits, and corporate nature strategies. Overlaps heavily with Forest Trends on voluntary carbon market integrity and nature-based solutions work, but at significantly larger scale.
- The Nature Conservancy: Largest global conservation NGO with deep overlap in forest conservation, ecosystem markets research, and nature-based solutions investment. Direct co-publishing partner with Forest Trends on flagship investment-in-nature reports and operates at vastly larger scale across the same mandate.
- World Wildlife Fund (US): Large global conservation organization with parallel work on forest stewardship, sustainable finance, illegal deforestation trade, and Indigenous-led conservation. Operates as a campaign-and-program-driven organization while Forest Trends is more research/convening oriented, but covers the same problems.
- Wildlife Conservation Society: Global conservation NGO combining field programs and policy advocacy. Comparable on forest governance and biodiversity work but with a more species-and-landscape orientation rather than Forest Trends' finance-and-markets focus.
Emerging players
- Natural Capital Project (Stanford): Academic-affiliated initiative building open-source geospatial valuation tools (InVEST) used by governments and corporates to quantify ecosystem services. Comparable to Forest Trends' geospatial valuation and MRV work but from an academic rather than convening/coalition position.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Forest Trends social profiles
Digital presenceForest Trends financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Forest Trends leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Forest Trends funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Forest Trends M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Forest Trends
What does Forest Trends do?
Forest Trends pioneers innovative finance for conservation by promoting environmental investments, payment mechanisms, and incentive structures for forests, water, climate, biodiversity, and community ecosystems. The organization delivers flagship market intelligence research (State of the Market series), coalition-building with governments, Indigenous communities, and businesses, and on-the-ground implementation of conservation finance and natural infrastructure projects.
Is Forest Trends a public or private company?
Forest Trends is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Forest Trends founded?
Forest Trends was founded in 1999. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Forest Trends based?
Forest Trends is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Forest Trends make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donor Contributions and Grants are the primary driver. The others are research and Publication Services.
Who are Forest Trends's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Climate Focus, World Resources Institute, Meridian Institute and Earth Innovation Institute. Broad incumbents are Rainforest Alliance, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund (US) and Wildlife Conservation Society. Natural Capital Project (Stanford) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Forest Trends have an API?
No public API is recorded for Forest Trends.
What industry is Forest Trends in?
Forest Trends's product category is Conservation Finance & Environmental Advisory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMAMAAAJ, Forest Carbon Projects & Ecosystem Services (Carbon Credits, Biodiversity), with a secondary code of IMAMAJAE, Carbon Accounting, Verification & Registry Services (MRV, Audits, Certification). Its NAICS code is 11531 and its SIC code is 800.