1) Acorn helps smallholder farmers transition to agroforestry by measuring carbon removal from their farms, certifying it as carbon removal units (CRUs), and facilitating access to buyers. Farmers receive 80% of CRU sale proceeds, with 10% going to local partners and 10% to Acorn. 2) One Acre Fund is working on a pilot project in Zambia to involve smallholder farmers in agroforestry and carbon markets. Farmers would plant trees and receive payments for tree survival in the first 3 years, then carbon payments starting in year 4 based on carbon sequestered. Monitoring would be done through in-person and remote sensing. 3) Cooperative

1. Enabling smallholder farmers to transition to agroforestry at scale
Cooperative Carbon Finance
Global Landscapes Forum – March 7th 2023
Tim Diphoorn, Ineke Keers and Max Berkelmans

2. Topics for today
Panel
Discussion
and Q&A
Acorn
Introduction &
Problem
Statement
Cooperative
Carbon
Finance
One Acre
Fund
Zambia

3. 3
1. Acorn

4. Acorn sequesters CO2 from the air by helping smallholder
farmers transition from monoculture to agroforestry
Assist smallholder
farmers in their transition
to agroforestry
Measure and
certifies biomass growth
and make Carbon Removal
Units (“CRU”)
CRU
Local partners 10%
Acorn 10%
Smallholders 80%
Facilitate access to local partners
and buyers of CRUs
through Rabobank's network
Verify and
monitor
Carbon
results
Ensure a fair share of
income for smallholder
farmers

5. With agroforestry we improve smallholder livelihoods while
mitigating climate change, restoring land and food security
C
O2
Food insecurity
Required crop production
increase to feed the globe:
+56% by 2050
Land degradation
Desertification will
threaten the existence
of about
3.2 bn people by 2050
Climate change
Current human activities
are likely to increase
global warming
by 1.5 °C by 2050
Source: FAO, IPBES, IPCC, WRI

6. The transition to agroforestry holds various benefits
compared to today’s monoculture
Monoculture
• Depleting soil
• Sensitive to climate change
• Low nutrient diversity
• Low yield per ha
• Income depends on single crop type
• Deforestation / carbon emission
Agroforestry
• Improving soil health
• Climate & weather resilient
• Diverse, high-quality nutrients
• Improved yield per ha
• Income with different harvest streams
• Afforestation / carbon sequestration

7. Planting Gliricidia trees leads to enormous benefits for
farmers
• Planting Gliricidia Trees, intercropped with Maize
• Trees (twigs, leaves) are used for medicine, natural manure and pesticides, firewood
• Reduced soil erosion
• Improved yields due to higher soil quality
• Additional carbon income

8. Traditionally, high entry barriers don’t allow smallholder
farmers to benefit from the carbon market.
High certification costs High monitoring costs No access to fair payments
• Time consuming process
• High upfront costs for each step of
the application procedure
• Not viable for developers working
with smallholder projects
• Manually measuring tree growth via
site visits is costly
• High recurring (annual) costs
resulting in unviable business cases
• Smallholders don’t have access to the
buyers of credits
• High margins for project developers
and intermediaries
• Poor benefit sharing due to high
certification, monitoring, reporting
and verification (MRV) costs.
Community members(10-40%)
*
Project Developers (20-40%)
Intermediaries (40-60%)
* Source: Inclusive and Nature-based Carbon Markets (Cifar Alliance, 2022)

9. Fair payment for high quality
carbon removal units
Acorn removes high entry barriers that made it difficult for
smallholder farmers to benefit from the carbon market.
Cost efficient certification Efficient monitoring reducing costs Fair payments
Pragmatic and cost-efficient
certification with Plan Vivo
Traceable satellite based remote
sensing monitoring
Local
partners (10%)
Acorn (10%)
Smallholder
Farmers (80%)

10. Acorn measures remotely the sequestered carbon and sells
the carbon removal units in the voluntary carbon market
Farmers Local Partners Acorn Buyers
Plant trees
1 Collect data
2 Measure biomass
3 Generate CRUs
4 Buy CRUs
5
Traceable satellite based remote
sensing monitoring
Pragmatic and cost-efficient
certification
Fair payment for high quality
carbon removal units
Transparent registry
Register CRU
6
Pay farmer
7
Carbon Removal Units (CRUs) <> EUR /USD

11. The market for voluntary carbon credits is growing rapidly
and can channel capital to the Global South.
2019 2021
2018
2017
2
%
1
%
2020
4
%
26
%
43
%
Share of 2,000 largest public companies
with net zero commitments [%]
Annual global voluntary offset demand
[in metric tonnes CO2]
12,50
0
2020 2030 2040
1,34
0
2050
9
5
3,70
0
Acorn performance
250.000+ CRUs
sold to off takers
High forecast
Low forecast
Source: CME Group, Bain analysis, Trove Intelligence, State of the VCM,

12. Acorn offers high quality carbon removal units with
significant co-benefits
Nature based Carbon credits originating from naturally occurring ecosystems.
Removal
CO2 sequestered from the air into nature-based systems.
Not avoidance, reduction or allowance credits.
Ex-post
Carbon sequestration that has already taken place, with a vintage of
maximum 2 years. Not a promise for the future.
Transparent
Carbon sequestered can be proven through data driven
measurements and analytics.
Traceable Complete clarity when and where carbon is removed and on payment.
Certified
Credits are certified and verified by an independent and trustworthy
external standard Plan Vivo (ICROA endorsed).
Co-benefits 80% of the sale price flows directly back to the smallholder farmer.

13. Acorn is currently active in >10 countries across 3 continents
COMACO
Zambia
Solidaridad
Kenya
Solidaridad
Peru
Solidaridad
Uganda
WETPA
Kenya
Kaderes
Tanzania
FarmStrong
Ivory Coast
Solidaridad
Nicaragua
Solidaridad
Colombia
Carbon forest
Zambia
VCCSL
India

14. 14
2. One Acre Fund
Case Study Zambia

15. Agroforestry and Inclusive
Carbon Finance
Unlocking carbon markets for smallholder
prosperity and environmental impact

16. One Acre Fund at a Glance
16
Faines Luvinga, Tanzania
WHO WE ARE: Nonprofit social enterprise
WHO WE SERVE: Extreme-poor, typically women-led staple-
crop farm families in rural East and Southern Africa (plus a
pilot in Nigeria)
WHAT WE DO: Deliver a complete solution for farm families
that finances, distributes, and trains on life-improving
technologies (e.g., seed, storage bags, solar products)
HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS:
● Scale: 1.4M farm families served directly, 1.8M additional
through public and private sector partners
● Impact: 40%+ annual profit boost on crops and products we
support; increased financial and climate resilience
● Efficiency: Farmers pay for our services; for every $1 invested
in our direct program, we generate $3-4 in farmer profit gains
(1 : $6-8 for partnerships)

17. 1AF Markets: Highly Vulnerable to Climate Change
17
Climate models predict significant temperature
increases between now and 2050 for Africa’s
key agricultural regions
“Overall crop yields
in Africa may fall by
10-20% by 2050 due
to higher
temperatures and
reduced rainfall.”
“One additional
degree Celsius is
associated with a
2.8 percentage
point increase in
poverty rates.”
This has disastrous implications for poverty and
food security among farm families
Source: “Adapting maize production
to climate change in Sub-Saharan
Africa,” CIMMYT. 2012.
Source: “Climate and poverty in Africa
South of the Sahara,” IFPRI. 2019.

18. 18
LIFE-IMPROVING
TECHNOLOGIES
One Acre Fund’s Model: Complete Market Bundle
MARKET FACILITATION
TRAINING
DISTRIBUTION
FINANCING
▪ Credit, with flexible
repayment
▪ Insurance
▪ On-time delivery
▪ Within walking distance
▪ Simple, participatory
▪ Delivered by farmers
▪ Safe storage
▪ Fair market prices
Scale: By 2030, 4 million 1AF clients could bring 10% of East Africa’s arable land under sustainable, resilient, and self-sufficient management.

19. ADAPTATION
MITIGATION
2. Build soil fertility
3. Increase income diversity
4. Provide safety nets
5. Reduce emissions
6. Sequester more CO2
SOLUTIONS
1. Maximize plant health
The strategies above are the most effective ways for farmers to adapt, but major unmanageable
shocks will persist, and for those we need a safety net.
Healthy plants more likely to tolerate weather- and pest-related stress, providing a first line of
defense against shocks.
Healthy soil retains more moisture during droughts and better manages excess moisture during
heavy rainfall. It is also essential for maximizing plant health and for effective input use.
Diversified income sources help farmers weather shocks to any single source. Diversified crops
also reinforce soil health, mitigate spread of pest & disease, and help boost yields.
We can be more intentional about long-term resilience through reforestation in the Ag
landscape and increasing soil carbon. PES can further boost farmer income.
Some parts of our business model (i.e., local deliveries, fertilizer use) are emission-intensive. We
can seek to reduce our footprint in ways that also deliver cost savings to farmers.
RATIONALE
Our Climate Strategy Focuses on Six Pillars
Carbon finance is climate mitigation. However, for 1AF it is a driver of adaptation efforts

20. One Acre Fund’s agroforestry
program is rapidly scaling.
● 150M+ trees distributed to date
● 40m+ in 2023
● Goal of distributing 1B in the next 10-12 years
● 40+ tree species with focus on
native/indigenous trees and fruit trees
Step 1: Production
Step 2: Distribution
Step 3: Training
Through a network of
regional “hub” tree nurseries
to produce millions of tree
seedlings
We have established 1000s of
decentralized nurseries run
by farmer entrepreneurs and
close to where farmers can
collect seedlings
We partner with government
to train farmers on correct
planting and care; and making
annual tree-planting a habit.
Scale Logistics
20

21. Zambia Pilot

22. “Grow Trees, improve your soil, and get paid for it”
>Alley Cropping model:
Farmers plant new trees in 1 hectare farms and can
continue to grow annual crops between alleys.
>Tree Survival Incentives:
Receive payments for first 3 years of trees before
carbon revenue
>Replacement Seedlings:
Farmers receive up to 180 replacement seedlings
Seedling Production:
Decentralized Nursery Model
- Currently operating 52 nurseries (2x in each mega
site ~10-15km distance to clients).
- Producing Musangu & yr2 package species except
grafted fruit seedlings (currently sourced externally).
22

23. Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
A. Incentive payments
Year 5
Farmer
Payments*
Year 20
During years 1-3, farmers receive an
incentive per surviving tree covered
by 1AF (~$0.05/tree), resulting in an
expected ~$10 (k160) per year.
Year 6
~$10
(k160)
~$10
(k160)
~$10
(k160)
…..
B. Carbon payments
During years 4-20, farmers receive carbon credit
payments based on the amount of carbon
sequestered
$$ $$ $$
$$
Monitoring & Evaluation >
Tree Growth >
Farmer Payments >
…..
Field Officer - in person monitoring
Remote Sensing
(Through our partner- Rabobank)
Additional resources needed after
initial adoption:
- Field Officer bandwidth
- Survival payments
First year survival risks:
- Livestock
- Termites
- Fire
- Poor rains after planting
23

24. $105M
Financing Needs
One Acre Fund
Carbon Finance
(ZM, MW, TZ, RW, ET, KE)
40%
Grants
60%
Debt

25. ∼3 years
Proof of Concept: High R&D spending,
shifting project design, low cost transparency,
certification, no carbon revenue.
∼5 years
Scaling: Clear view on scaling potential: first
carbon sales, clear data on survival rates and
farmer enrollment success. High investment
needs as annual farmer enrollment objective
grow.
1
2
∼5 years
Self-Funded: Project fully self financing but
paying back debt.
3
1 3
2
Around year 3, most carbon pilots pass their proof of concept stage having finalized a
feasibility study and standards certification.
Stages of Financing a Carbon Project
∼ years
Steady State: Carbon project fully self
financing.
4
4

26. Challenges Opportunities
1. Accessing the carbon market is
expensive and challenging because:
a. additionality (proof of)
b. permanence
c. MRV cost
d. pre-financing
2. Carbon Price - carbon prices are still
far too low to offset cost of supplying
a nature based solution credit with
SHFs
3. Balancing long timelines for revenue,
short term incentives for farmers
26
1. PES: Carbon finance could drive
more payments for ecosystem
services
2. Scalability - if we fix financing and
carbon markets issues we will be
able to scale up beyond current
targets (1 billion trees +)
3. A great new revenue source for
smallholder farmers!

27. 27
oneacrefund.org
@oneacrefund

28. 28
3. Cooperative Carbon
Finance

29. Cooperative carbon finance with carbon credits can
accelerate financial inclusion in emerging markets
Traditional finance by MFIs
• No access to cashflows for investors
• High individual farmer risk
• Short duration (weeks, months, year)
• High interest rates (15% - 25%)
• Low scalability depending on local
players & conditions
Cooperative carbon finance as gamechanger
• Carbon proceeds flow from Acorn directly
to investor
• Cooperative finance reduces risk for
investors
• Long tenors (up to ten years)
• Lower, fair interest rates (4% - 8%)
• High scalability possible

30. Farmers repay the initial investment in tree planting over
time with the cash flow from Carbon Removal Units
Year 6 Year 8 Year 10 Year 12 Year 14
Year 0 Year 2 Year 4
$42 $84 $105
$ $ $$ $$ $$ $$$ $$$
–
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
$126 $105
$21
>80% to
farmer
Min.
EUR
20/tCO₂

31. CCF enables farmers to indirectly repay the initial
investment through future carbon proceeds
In-kind provisions
CRU payments
Input Payment
CRU revenue
Input
providers
ACORN
Farmers Local partner
CRUs
CRU generation
4
3
1
2
6
7
CRU payments
Loan/grant
2 2
5 Repayment
Buyer
CCF b.v.
CCF provides pre-finance (e.g. grant/loan) to Local Partner to
cover for upfront investment costs
4
3
1
2
5
6
Local Partner purchases in-kind provisions (e.g. training,
seedlings) to enable farmers to start agroforestry practices
and coordinates tree planting/intervention
Farmers generate CRUs through planting trees. Monitored,
certified and sold by Acorn, certified by Plan Vivo
A corporate off-taker buys CRUs from Acorn against the
latest market price, 100% of the CRU price flows to Acorn
Acorn retains 10% of the CRU proceeds and repays loan to
CCF based on a certain % of CRU proceeds (e.g. 50% of 80%)
Acorn transfers 10% of CRU proceeds to LP and remaining
part of 80% of CRU proceeds (after loan deduction) to
farmers
7
Farmers receive remainder of 80% after loan deduction,
either via LP or directly via digital payment solution
Funding and repayment mechanism

32. We are establishing a new entity to fund the agroforestry
transition together with donors and financiers
Project 1
India, EUR 4.4 m
Project 2
Ghana, EUR 5 m
Project 3
Peru, EUR 2 m
Cooperative Carbon Finance B.V.
Donors &
Impact Funds
Financiers
External financiers alongside Rabobank
Fund Manager CCF
involvement Rabo Foundation
Portfolio
Limited recourse loans
DFIs/MDBs &
Institutionals
Examples
Investment Policy (not exhaustive)
• Acorn smallholder agroforestry projects
only in Latam, Africa and Asia
• Investment costs (seedlings, training, tree
planting costs) <20% of carbon revenue in
20yr
• Extensive screening of Local Partners
• Repayments based on future carbon
proceeds
TA Facility
Senior Tranche
Capital Preservation
Junior Tranche
Donors
Stichting Nieuwe
Fondsen
Shareholder
Governance

33. CCF is unique in the market: using carbon markets at scale
with fair farmer remuneration
Low
SCALABILITY
COMMUNITY
BENEFITS
Low
Donation based tree planting
• Trees provided to farmers for free, not always
credit generation
• Dependent on grant funding from donors or
individuals
Acorn & CCF
• 80% of carbon revenues to farmers through
low MRV & certification costs
• Farmers benefit from price increases,
repayments from future carbon proceeds
Insetting at costs price
• Trees & training provided to farmers for
free for claim on future credits
• No recurring farmer remuneration
Low-cost credits through pre-funding
• High-risk pre-funding based on claim
(50-100%) of future carbon credits
• Limited farmer remuneration
RETURN ORIENTED
H i g h
H i g h
Low
H i g h

34. 34
4. Panel and
Q&A

35. How can we overcome the barriers around smallholder
finance and collaborate for success?
Pieternel
Boogaard
Moderators
Ineke Keers & Max Berkelmans
Tim Diphoorn
Catherine
Martini
Global Head
Agribusiness, Food &
Water
Senior Program
Manager Carbon
Removals
Director Business
Development Europe
Head of Business Development
Finance Lead

36. 36
4. Let’s join forces!

37. Join us in working towards smallholders can transition to
agroforestry at scale!
Governments
Promoting favourable
legislation and
alignment with national
strategies
Project developers
Ensuring smallholders can
transition to agroforestry
and benefit from carbon
markets
Corporates
Offsetting your
unabatable CO2
emissions or insetting
by working with
smallholders in your
value chain
Financiers
Financing high-impact
smallholder
agroforestry projects
against moderate
returns

38. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more
information
Tim Diphoorn
Europe Director, Business Development
One Acre Fund
tim.diphoorn@oneacrefund.org
+31 (0)6 20 84 27 82
Max Berkelmans
Finance Lead
Rabobank Acorn
max.berkelmans@rabobank.com
+31 (0)6 21 90 08 63
Ineke Keers
Head of Business Development
Rabobank Acorn
ineke.keers@rabobank.com
+31 (0)6 41 06 51 91
Or visit us on: acorn.rabobank.com

39. Thank you
for your attention!