ABOUT US
What makes Big Tree Climate Fund?
What does Big Tree Climate Fund offer?
Big Tree Climate Fund
Sustainability is part of our fiduciary duty, part of our DNA.
Big Tree Climate Fund utilizes the emerging emissions offset market as a catalyst for affirmative social and environmental transformation. We offer dynamic and effective emissions offsets and RECs that proactively contribute to the mitigation of rapid climate change by working with smallholders and ecosystems through-out the world. Together, BTCF and our customers accomplish this through a holistic approach that encompasses environmental, social and financial means that compensate people fairly for the stewardship of their natural resources from which we all benefit.
Big Tree Climate Fund is a certified B corporation. Unlike traditional corporations, Certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on the long term interests of their employees, suppliers, community, consumers, and environment.
The founders of Big Tree Climate Fund represent 30+ years of cumulative experience in the fields of sustainable agro-forestry, organic agriculture, fair trade, community-building and environmental development. Having already achieved success using smallholder crops as tools for forest conservation, reforestation, and community empowerment in emergent countries, the founders continue to directly mitigate the environmental and social problems facing the world today with carbon offsets.
What makes Big Tree Climate Fund?
Fair Carbon™. Carbon offsets or tree-planting programs that do more than just guarantee that greenhouse gases are being removed from the atmosphere. Fair Carbon programs support the three pillars of sustainability: fair economics, social justice, and environmental stewardship.
Project Development. Big Tree Climate Fund is a vertically integrated emission reduction offset supplier. We are on the ground project developers, implementing and funding environmentally and socially beneficial ventures that contribute emission reduction and renewable energy credits to the voluntary markets in the US, Brazil and Indonesia. This unique position allows customers to choose whether to directly support the development of future projects and reductions through our offset program or to support more traditional vintage emission reductions from existing projects.
· Big Tree Community Fund. Big Tree Climate Fund goes beyond baseline certification standards by donating 10% of the profits from projects we develop to the communities that live within the project development zones. This imperative step assures a noble partnership that benefits all stakeholders involved in the emission reduction value chain.
· Forestry. While BTCF supports and offers many types of greenhouse gas offset generating projects, we have a passion for reforestation and avoided deforestation. These projects have the ability to reverse current CO2 levels in the atmosphere through sequestration, while also having the unique ability to protect other important global assets such as wildlife habitats, watersheds, soil, biodiversity and the livelihoods of local communities.
. Beyond Neutral. Big Tree Climate Fund strives to lead our customers to an emission reduction solution that goes beyond neutral and places our clients in a leadership position that will result in greater company pride, marketability and overall respect within industry. We encourage our customers to actively promote the projects they support through their website and marketing material, as our customers are our partners and without them, the projects would not happen.
· Global Citizens. With representatives in Brazil, Indonesia and the United States and with experience throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, Big Tree Climate Fund is uniquely positioned to develop and administer projects, while assisting our clients to participate in a rapidly growing global community of environmental stewardship.
What does Big Tree Climate Fund offer?
· Project Development. Big Tree Climate Fund is a project developer, promoter and investor in environmentally and socially beneficial ventures that contribute emission reduction and renewable energy credits to the voluntary markets in the US, Brazil and Indonesia.
· Business Emission Solutions. BTCF can provide businesses of all sizes with emission reduction offsets, recommendations and solutions ranging from an initial phase-one reduction study, an emission footprint analysis and a short to long-term reduction plan.
· Events. BTCF offers the ability for environmentally conscious companies and individuals to make their conference, tradeshow or wedding carbon neutral. We provide necessary questionnaires to all participants, or, they can log onto an account page on our website to enter the critical data.
· Individual Emission Solutions. Through our website, individuals can calculate and offset their GHG emission footprint and track their footprint through our interactive membership forum.
· Community Support. In developing countries, BTCF works with indigenous communities and smallholder farmers who’s traditional means of income are becoming threatened by climate change and forest policies. In the US, we work with diverse organizations that promote environmental stewardship, renewable energy and community governance.
The Team:
Frederick Schilling – Founder
Frederick’s previous enterprise was as the Founder/CEO of Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a leading socially responsible organic chocolate company. Frederick and Dagoba received numerous national and international awards for their business ethics and for being an example of how private enterprise can drive environmental conservation and social equity. His experience in working with impoverished cocoa growing communities around the world combined with the immediate need for international forest protection and alternative energy development has led him to establish Big Tree Climate Fund. Frederick is a college dropout with a declared Theology Major and Music Minor, but received his Masters as a ski bum in Telluride, Colorado during a 6 year intensive training in high speed aerodynamics.
Ben Ripple - Partner, Director of Operations, Indonesia
Ben has worked in tropical sustainable agriculture in Indonesia for over 10 years with a focus on cacao, rice, coconut and coconut sugars, cashew, sea salt, spices and honey. In 2002 Ben founded PT Bali Organik Alami (BOA), an organic farm company that is now the single largest organic vegetable farm in Indonesia. He is also the founder of Big Tree Farms, Bali; a leading sustainable supply chain manager that works with traditional farmers throughout the Indonesian Archipelago. He has a BS in Sustainable Agriculture and speaks fluent Indonesian.
Big Tree Farms has partnered with organizations such as; USAID, AMARTA, Hivos, Swiss Contact and Rainforest Alliance to improve the livelihoods of thousands of farmers throughout Indonesia, through promoting organic and sustainable agriculture.
Diego Badaró - Partner, Director of Operations, Brazil
Diego is a 5th generation organic farmer. He resides in Salvador, Brazil and heads up our Brazilian operations. He is a spokesperson in Brazil for organic agriculture and conservation and restoration of the Atlantic Rainforest – Mata Atlântica, regarded as one of the, if not the, most biodiverse forests in the world. He is the founder of Cacau Badaró, a specialty organic chocolate manufacturer located in Salvador. He works with farming communities in Bahia to use cacao as a tool for rainforest preservation.
Jonathan Rademaekers - Director of Operations, US
An environmental activist born in France, Jonathan has lived in Paris, New York, Chicago, London, Portland, Telluride and now resides in Boulder, Colorado. He earned his BS at the University of Colorado with an Environmental Studies major and a Biology minor and proceeded to work at the US Geological Survey and manage a retail business. After a twelve year detour in the music industry during which he performed in and co-managed an international touring band, composed and produced a range of music from string quartet to mambo as well as for TV and film, he has returned to his original career focus. Along the way he discovered two effective ways to relieve stress: become a black belt in Kung-Fu and an award-winning mogul snowboarder.
Advisory Board:
Melissa Schweisguth:
CSR / Sustainability Advisor and “Changemaker”, Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association, Dagoba Chocolate and Hershey.
Ray Guries, Ph.D:
Chair, Forestry Ecology and Management Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Christopher Vaughn Dickhaut, Ph.D:
Adjunct Associate Professor/Honorary Fellow, Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison