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From OpenAI to $500M in Project Finance for Forests | Living Carbon

29 July 2026 44:20 Dr. Chris Wedding — Climate Tech CEO Coach | CEO @ EFI

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About this episode

How do you turn degraded farmland into an investable climate asset? Living Carbon has raised $76M in equity and unlocked $500M in project finance by combining reforestation, biomass, and long-term infrastructure thinking.

Living Carbon restores degraded agricultural and mine lands through reforestation while developing biomass supply chains for industrial customers..

Maddie Hall is the co-founder and CEO of Living Carbon. Before launching the company, she worked at OpenAI, Y Combinator, and Sequoia Capital.

  • How to unlock project finance for climate startups — Why demonstrating repeatable execution, securing blue-chip customers, and reducing underwriting risk enabled Living Carbon to raise $500M beyond traditional venture capital.

  • Why degraded land beats pristine forests — How abandoned farmland and former mine sites create stronger economics, lower land costs, and higher carbon additionality while avoiding competition with food production.

  • Building two businesses within one company — Why Living Carbon separates its carbon credit business from its biomass platform, generating multiple revenue streams without relying entirely on voluntary carbon markets.

  • Ignoring carbon market hype — Why Maddie focuses on building a business that will still matter in 2030 instead of chasing today's policy changes, pricing swings, or investor excitement.

  • Leadership lessons from scaling startups — Why founders should catastrophize less, become comfortable with rejection, stop optimizing for being liked, and build routines that support long-term resilience.

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