Mata no Peito: Protect & Replant Brazilian Forests

Nike, together with Winrock, seeks to bring together a committed and visionary team of partners in the Mata no Peito Initiative to raise funding and awareness for the strength of join actions to protect and replant forests throughout Brazil.

To date, individual and corporate donors have partnered with the Mata no Peito Initiative, raising $40,000 and removing over 19 million pounds of CO₂ from the atmosphere via retirement of carbon credits to offset their carbon footprints – equivalent to taking 1,780 cars off the road for a year. All donations will be pooled to seed the Mata no Peito Fund, which will provide investments in selected innovative forestry projects throughout Brazil that demonstrate scalability, economic sustainability, community engagement and enhanced livelihoods.

We are grateful for the generous support to date from 132 individual donors via Global Giving as well as from committed corporate and nonprofit partners including the U.S. Tennis Congress, (USTC), Sustain:Green credit and debit card, the 2013 Environmental and Clean Energy Inaugural Ball, software development company iObit, Nissan, London Carbon Markets and Hub Culture.

As eyes turn to Brazil as the host of the approaching 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic games, we remain eager to confirm additional Mata no Peito coalition partners to help raise awareness of the importance of forests to address climate change, sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity.

Nike, together with Winrock International, seeks to bring together a committed and visionary team of partners in the Mata no Peito Initiative to raise funding and awareness for the strength of join actions to protect and replant forests throughout Brazil.

To date, individual and corporate donors have partnered with the Mata no Peito Initiative, raising over $38,500 and removing more than 8,300 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere via retirement of carbon credits to offset their carbon footprints – equivalent to over 18.5 million pounds of CO₂ and taking 1,730 cars off the road for a year. All donations will be pooled to seed the Mata no Peito Fund, which will provide investments in selected innovative forestry projects throughout Brazil that demonstrate scalability, economic sustainability, community engagement and enhanced livelihoods.

The most recent partner to join the initiative is the U.S. Tennis Congress (USTC), which held its highly successful inaugural event earlier this month in Atlanta bringing together over 40 of the world’s top pros - never before assembled in one place - with 200 of the world’s most avid adult recreational players.

The USTC was formed with the goal of goal of enriching lives through unparalleled world-class tennis education and training. In addition, the organization is partnering with charitable foundations to explore new avenues to activate the tennis community in support of high-impact projects that benefit both people and the planet, and will channel a meaningful share of profits towards philanthropic efforts.

As an example of this commitment, enthusiastic participants in the inaugural USTC event raised $3,000 for Mata no Peito through the silent auction and “mocktail” fundraisers. Contact USTC to receive information on future events.

We are grateful for the support of the U.S. Tennis Congress and remain eager to confirm additional Mata no Peito coalition partners to help raise awareness of the importance of forests to address climate change, sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity.