🎙️ Untangling Climate Finance: Mark McPherson on City Forest Credits and Human Impact
Listen to this episode on any of the streaming platforms below.
“There’s never a more valuable forest than the urban forest — precisely because of all the human impacts.”
– Mark McPherson
Here we go again! We are back with another episode of Untangling Climate Finance!
In our second episode of the year, Jay connects with Mark McPherson, Founder and Executive Director of City Forest Credits, to explore why urban forests are some of the most undervalued forms of climate infrastructure, and how carbon finance can help protect them before they’re lost.
Mark explains how urban forests deliver climate, health, and equity benefits directly where people live, why traditional carbon markets weren’t built for cities, and how City Forest Credits developed human-centered “Carbon+” protocols to address that gap. He also shares why preserving existing urban forests – and avoiding emissions today – is just as critical as long-term carbon removals.
Mark and Jay discuss:
✅ Why urban forests deliver outsized human and climate benefits
✅ How “Carbon+” credits connect climate action to health and equity outcomes
✅ Who is buying City Forest Carbon+ Credits today, including companies like REI and Airbnb, and professional sports teams like the Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins
✅ Why avoided emissions are a critical part of climate strategy
✅ What it will take to unlock demand and scale urban forest protection before it’s too late
If you are interested in learning more about City Forest Credit’s premium preservation (avoidance) and planting (removal) credits, reach out here: jtipton@gordianknotstrategies.com.
To connect with us at GKS, or to share feedback, please reach out to us at: communications@gordianknotstrategies.com.
Enjoy the ep!
Gordian Knot Strategies
We are Igniting Climate Solutions: Mobilizing $1 Billion Per Year in Impact Investment by 2030!
At Gordian Knot Strategies, our goal is to help mobilize $1 billion per year in climate finance. That is why we’re committed to making climate finance smarter and faster by addressing a broken impact investing screening process. That’s why we built Traro®, a predictive analytics platform designed to help investors rapidly triage opportunities with clarity, consistency, and confidence.
We recently hosted a live webinar focused on leveraging Traro® for more effective impact investing screening. If you weren’t able to attend, the recording link can be found here.
For those interested in further exploring these best practices, a free guide is available – Smarter Climate Investing: 7 Strategic Filters Before Your First Impact Dollar – which distills actionable lessons learned for screening climate projects using seven essential criteria.
If your organization is interested in seeing Traro® in action, we’d love to show you how it works. Email us at traro@gordianknotstrategies.com. There’s no cost to access the guide or the demo. Our goal is to equip more investors with tools that unlock real climate impact.
Seeking Impact Investment? Submit your project to Traro®!
We invite project developers to submit their projects for screening on the Traro® Platform at no cost. Based on assessment outcomes, we can match you with interested impact investors (there is no fee).
You can find more information and how to create an account on Traro® here.
We’re building a global database of impact investors to help mobilize $1 billion annually in climate finance by 2030. If your organization is interested in funding climate or environmental projects, we invite you to fill out our Impact Investor Information Form. Your contact details will remain confidential, and we’ll only connect you with aligned opportunities. There is no fee to participate.
To access the form click here.
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