For many companies, unsustainable practices are little more than a call for better PR and a little bit of greenwashing. However, for Green Gold Forestry, there was a call for, well, real sustainability. 

A $250,000 loan from Conservation International Ventures facilitated the company's metamorphosis from planet-harming practices into a shining example of business and environmentalism working in harmony. 

Green Gold Forestry (GGF) was originally a sustainable logging company based in the Peruvian Amazon. In time, however, it turned out that its operations weren't as sustainable as planned.

Rather than choosing profit over the planet, the company looked inward. The result was a pivot from its initial business model to something that truly protects the environment and the communities that inhabit it. 

GGF stopped downing trees altogether and instead decided to harness the immense power they offer while still standing. Living trees continually offer fruit, oils, and handicraft resources while absorbing planet-warming carbon.  

One example of this new business model involves harvesting the acai superfruit. Traditionally, this involved the downing of the acai palm that provides the fruit. GGF avoids this by working with locals to scale the tree and harvest the fruit, keeping it alive and capable of providing more every year.

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This is where the aforementioned loan from Conservation International Ventures comes in. Acai spoils so quickly that it must be processed on-site. GGF is using some loan money to create a fruit processing plant that will allow it to quickly turn the acai into a viable product. 

The company works with local communities in its operations, providing people with eco-friendly jobs. To date, it has created 600 seasonal jobs. On top of that, it's worked with these communities to develop their own sustainable businesses.

The Amazon Rainforest plays a critical role in regulating the planet's weather patterns. Its vast array of plant life absorbs an immense amount of our carbon output. Despite successful efforts to protect it from deforestation, setbacks continue to occur, and much work must still be done.

That's part of what makes GGF's efforts so fantastic. Rather than continuing to profit off practices it determined to be unsustainable, it chose to adapt and protect the Amazon. In those efforts, it has found continued success that sends a message to enterprises around the planet: Sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive.

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"Sustainability is my biggest driver," GGF CEO Gareth Hughes said. "With GGF, we're trying to make something that will be sustainable for the communities in the long run so that if we ever disappeared, they would be able to carry on the work because they have the skills and resources to do it."

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