About us

Acorn is Rabobank's response to climate change, a threat that affects us all, but that disproportionately disadvantages smallholder farmers in developing countries. Like everything we do, our solution is rooted in common sense, in down-to-earth practicality. 

Our collective actions have created an excess of carbon in our atmosphere. Planting biomass, such as trees, can recapture that carbon. That's why we help smallholder farmers to transform their agricultural practices into more sustainable ones through agroforestry. 

Agroforestry also improves soil quality and crop yield. The only thing holding back smallholder farmers is perceived risk and delayed reward. So we're mitigating those factors and paving the way for a greener, cooler, more sustainable planet. 

We turn the CO2 that is sequestered through agroforestry into carbon credits to be sold on the voluntary carbon market or as insetting units within supply chains. We developed an innovative and scalable method for measuring, certifying, and monetizing the biomass growth of planted trees and turning that growth into Carbon Removal Units (CRUs). The CRUs (or carbon credits) are sold to organizations with strong emission reduction commitments. To close the loop, 80% of the income of every sold CRU flows back to the original smallholder.