Top OJ Maker Uses Green Credits to Fund Move From Diseased Trees

(Bloomberg) -- One of the world’s biggest orange juice processors is turning to carbon credits to help finance the Brazilian citrus industry’s costly move away from disease-laden orchards.

Citrosuco and Itaú Unibanco, the largest private bank in Latin America, are partnering on a carbon credit program to fund farmers moving from the country’s main citrus belt to the Cerrado region in central Brazil, where a deadly citrus disease has not yet devastated trees. 

While Brazil is by far the world’s biggest orange juice producer, the so-called greening disease has affected nearly half of the country’s main citrus belt, which covers the São Paulo and southwest Minas Gerais regions. Brazil saw its worst crop in 36 years in the 2024-25 season, propelling orange juice futures to a record in late 2024. 

The move to Cerrado is recent, but the region “can be big,” Citrosuco’s head of ESG, Orlando Nastri, said in a Wednesday interview during Climate Week NYC. “We are investing a lot in that.”

The program, which officially launched Wednesday, funds growers to plant on old pasture land and follow practices to protect soil health like planting cover crops. The amounts of carbon trapped in the soil by orchards will be measured and turned into carbon credits. Those will be verified and sold through Verra, a major registry for the carbon credits sector, with half of the profits going back to farmers.

That helps create a “virtuous cycle” for producers in the region by defraying production costs, while also helping them to adapt to Cerrado’s drier climate and more acidic soil, said Maria Belen Losada, Itau’s head of carbon products.

The project has already secured over 20,000 hectares to generate carbon credits and is aiming to reach 45,000 hectares, which is more than a tenth of Brazil’s current citrus belt, the companies said. The first batch of carbon credits is slated to be issued in 2029.

Orange juice futures in New York were trading at around $2.50 a pound on Wednesday, marking a 54% drop from a record in December as high prices hit consumer demand.

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