The Story of Earthshot Labs: Building the Financial Infrastructure for Global Ecosystem Restoration

Sometimes the path to solving global challenges begins with a personal crisis. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Troy Carter shared how his journey from Stanford graduate to climate tech founder was shaped by moments of profound environmental loss.

From Cider to Climate

Troy’s entrepreneurial journey didn’t start in climate tech. After graduating from Stanford and experiencing what he calls “an existential crisis,” he moved north of San Francisco and started a cider company. He recalls, “There was actually no cider in a grocery store… it turns out there were actually no cider brands, I think, on the west coast or no commercial cider brand in the United States.”

While the business found success, Troy became “disenchanted by alcohol as a substance that people used rather than as a ceremonial beverage” and sold the brand, setting the stage for his next chapter.

The Catalyst Moment

The turning point came in 2015 during a diving trip in Hawaii. “I remember crying into my mask, free diving,” Troy shares, describing watching coral reefs die over the course of months. This visceral experience of environmental loss became “a mobilizing moment… because it’s something sort of visceral and right in front of you, intimate and sort of imminent that you really want to save.”

This experience shaped Earthshot’s approach to market development, focusing on helping project developers translate local environmental connections into global impact.

Building Earthshot Labs

Today, Earthshot Labs develops and finances large-scale conservation projects. Their business model combines sophisticated technical capabilities with innovative financial infrastructure. As Troy explains, they earn revenue through “taking a commission on those investments and taking a credit share in those projects so that our incentives are aligned and in some cases, just getting paid for carbon development services.”

What sets them apart is their dual approach to ecosystem forecasting. Beyond traditional data analysis, they’ve developed process-based modeling that creates “a mathematical model of the ecosystem itself, which is taking things like photosynthesis and evaporranspiration, and all the biochemical processes.”

A Different Kind of Company

Perhaps most distinctively, Earthshot represents a new model for building technology companies. Troy notes, “Earthshot is one of the first companies that I’ve built that integrates what I consider sort of like a personal journey or a healing journey or a spiritual journey along with a business or a team.”

This integration of personal growth with business development stems from a provocative question Troy poses: “Are there any large tech businesses that you think represent the best wisdom of humanity?” His answer: “I can’t really think of any, and that’s a bit sad, honestly.”

The Road Ahead

Looking toward 2030, Earthshot has ambitious goals: enabling “the planting of more than a billion trees, more than 50 million hectares under conservation, and more than 100 million tons of CO2 drawn down from the atmosphere.” To achieve this scale, they’re focused on two key levers: making nature restoration a truly investable asset class and streamlining the process for project proponents to monetize their conservation efforts.

Troy envisions a future where “normal people [can] invest with their pensions and 401k in a security that actually directly catalyzes project development in nature restoration.” This vision of democratizing access to conservation investment while maintaining rigorous scientific standards could transform how we fund ecosystem restoration globally.

In doing so, Earthshot isn’t just building a company—they’re creating a new model for how technology companies can address global challenges while embodying the change they seek to create in the world.