Netflix has joined its Big Tech peers like Microsoft by taking a direct step into nature-based carbon credits. However, the content streaming giant is charting its own course in sequestration innovation. As the first buyer for Funga, a cutting-edge biotech startup harnessing native fungal biodiversity to supercharge carbon capture in forest soils, Netflix is betting big on the underground heroes that could transform sustainable strategies.
Founded by mycologist Colin Averill, PhD, Funga specializes in fungal restoration technology that transplants ectomycorrhizae (ECM) fungi, which are robust, nutrient-transporting microbes, from healthy donor forests into commercial groves with depleted soils. This process involves harvesting fungal spores, mixing them into an aqueous solution, and applying the mixture directly to tree saplings within days, fostering real-time symbiotic bonds that improve tree growth and soil health across forestry ecosystems in the southern U.S.
Funga Founder and CEO Colin Averill touted the partnership on LinkedIn, sharing, “Funga’s first carbon buyer is Netflix!” He characterized the content streaming giant’s “catalytic commitment” as paving the way for Funga to enroll 28,000 acres into its carbon project across one dozen states, with a view to restore native fungal biodiversity to southern U.S. forestry ecosystems.
This program marks Funga’s first commercial sale of carbon credits and represents one of the largest fungal restoration initiatives on the planet, expanding exponentially from a 500-acre pilot in 2023. Through a multi-year agreement, Netflix has agreed to purchase these credits over the next decade-plus, highlighting a long-term bet on scalable, biology-driven climate solutions.
Averill framed the deal as a proof point that science can scale through markets, saying, “Carbon markets are allowing us to take scientific discoveries out of the lab and into the real world faster than ever before, catalyzing massive climate and biodiversity action at scale.”
By reintroducing a diverse array of fungal communities, Funga seeks to bolster soil carbon sequestration, while strengthening ecosystem resilience and delivering benefits to nearby communities. At the heart of this approach, the ECM fungi create lasting bonds with trees across decades-long cycles, shuttling key nutrients like nitrogen to drive faster growth. As a result, trees can achieve up to 30 percent more biomass, which directly scales up carbon capture above ground, with even more carbon tucked away below in the vast, interconnected mycelial webs that thread through the earth.
Moreover, these restoration initiatives breathe new life into biodiversity at the very roots of forest food chains, building stronger ecosystems that sustain wildlife, protect clean water sources and support related farming activities like responsible timber harvesting. A minimum of 40 percent of the wood from these revitalized forests ends up in durable building materials meant to last well over a century, boosting their qualification for credits, owing to forward-thinking forest management models.
For Netflix, the project is a game-changer. The tech company reported 75,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions in 2024, not as much as a coal-powered plant but equivalent to the mass of a massive Panamax freighter, per Forbes. The deal aligns with its 2021 pledge to halve its footprint and offset the rest through natural climate solutions.
“Netflix is catalyzing a new class of biotechnology, one where we lean into our understanding of biodiversity and ecological complexity and use it to deliver climate outcomes at scale,” Averill noted, offering a nod to Netflix’s carbon markets lead, Cindy Chiang, for helping advance the agreement. Averill further described the transaction as “a vote of confidence” in “a new model for translating ecological discoveries into real impact.”
This collaboration spotlights the largely untapped potential of fungal biotech in commercial forestry. ECM fungi have a proven track record of improving seedling performance in forestry, facilitating growth and stress resistance in reforestation efforts. By way of comparison, arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation in short-cycle row crops has shown more variable results in the field, with benefits like boosted yields often offset by site-specific factors such as soil conditions and crop type. As carbon markets mature, deals like this could attract institutional capital into soil-centric projects, blending climate mitigation with biodiversity gains and long-term land productivity.
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