The four projects in our current portfolio represent a diverse set of entry points to carbon work across various contexts, value chains, and ecosystem services. Three of the four grants support the actions of smallholder-serving organizations that have not yet developed carbon projects. 

---

Three of the four pre-feasibility assessments of projects in the CASH Coalition portfolio are complete. The results make a compelling case for the potential of smallholder-led regenerative agriculture and carbon initiatives to deliver measurable climate and livelihood outcomes.

If fully realized, the three projects in the portfolio will:

• Reach 1.2 million farmers
• Regenerate 1.6 million hectares of land
• Remove or avoid 108 million metric tons of carbon over 40 years
• Generate an estimated $240 million in revenue over that period, assuming a carbon price of $10 per ton

With the right support, smallholders can be powerful agents of climate action.

---

Application process

We solicited a first round of applications from our members for pre-feasibility project proposals and projects where CASH could assist members in a hybrid market development and commercial role, or where we could assist a member overcome a barrier to scale. 

Selection Committee Composition
An independent panel of carbon finance experts evaluated applications:

• Eric Wilburn – Program Officer, Nature Finance, Bezos Earth Fund
• Ricardo Bayon – Partner and Co-Founder, Encourage Capital
• John Mundy – Director of Global Partnerships, One Acre Fund
• Ash Berman – Lead, Carbon Markets, Climate Actions Platform Africa (CAP-A)

The panel made recommendations for funding, which were then discussed and formally ratified by the CASH Executive Committee (ExCo). Importantly, to ensure objectivity, no evaluator was directly affiliated with any of the applicant organizations or projects. All of the expert panel’s recommendations were accepted.

Selection Criteria
The selection process was guided by a clear set of pre-established criteria, detailed in the CASH Pre-feasibility Assessment Funding Selection Criteria document. Projects were assessed based on the following dimensions:

• Project Type (Tiered by Priority)
  • Tier 1 (Highest Priority): Agroforestry, REDD, Improved Grasslands Management
  • Tier 2: Agriculture (soil carbon), Rice Cultivation, Reduced Inputs
• Project Size
  • Minimum aggregated area of 2,000 hectares
• Viability Factors
  • Compliance with carbon certification standards (e.g., additionality, permanence, leakage)
  • Favorable national regulations for carbon projects
  • Financial feasibility under current market conditions
  • Operational capacity of the project proponent
  • Legal clarity around land tenure and carbon rights
  • Strong government and community partnerships, including equitable benefit-sharing models
• Organizational Readiness
  • Clear priority for the applicant’s leadership
  • Dedicated internal resources and demonstrated urgency to implement
• Alignment with CASH Mission
  • The project’s potential to advance the coalition’s goals across its membership

Application and Decision-Making Process
Member organizations submitted their applications using a standardized format that requested detailed information on project context, community needs, land tenure, ecosystem benefits, financial projections, and implementation readiness.

We received five applications, and we are pleased to extend support to each in the form of targeted funding and technical assistance from two carbon experts. One project has since been withdrawn by the member. Project proposals from Digital Green, Forest Trends, and Proximity Designs will be supported with grants of $50,000 each plus technical assistance to complete pre-feasibility assessments. A fourth project proposed by SEKEM is already generating revenue through carbon credits. An award of $30,000 will support SEKEM to support actions to address specific bottlenecks undermining farmer onboarding and measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). The grant to SEKEM will also support the development of a case study about the development and roll-out of SEKEM’s EOL Standard to communicate insights about the process of developing a smallholder standard and taking a project to market for the benefit of CASH’s learning agenda and the field more broadly.

The original project proposed by Forest Trends, which focused on the Zoró Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso, could not proceed due to the devastating impact of the 2024 Brazilian wildfires. In response, a new initiative centered on the Atlantic Rainforest (summarized above) was proposed and approved by the selection committee.

Subjecting these projects to pre-feasibility assessments is not a box-checking exercise in which we identify ‘winners’ to progress toward project registration. It is more about identifying and developing projects that reveal existing barriers and frictions to smallholder participation in climate finance and project development and new pathways that enable more smallholders – and smallholder-serving organizations – to access climate finance. We expect to learn a great deal from projects that pass easily through the assessment phase as well as those that struggle and do not advance in the existing structure of carbon markets and its enabling environment

Pre-feasibility, feasibility, and project development activities and assessments will be leveraged for learning to inform future project development and advocacy work. As a coalition, we will use this learning for problem-solving, to push markets to be more responsive to smallholder needs, to create transformations in existing markets to expand access to climate finance streams, and to initiate new sources of income supportive of smallholder climate action and ecosystem services.