COMMENT: To succeed, REDD+ should focus on what Indigenous peoples and Local Communities value
REDD+ standards should not only include technical and scientific aspects developed in the Global North, but also contributions and experiences of the inhabitants of the same territories where these standards will be implemented, writes Gustavo Sanchez of the Mexican Network of Rural Forestry Organizations and colleagues representing other Indigenous peoples and Local Communities.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: Harmonized Biodiversity Claims as a Solution for Fragmented Biodiversity Markets
Since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, there’s been growing interest in market-based approaches for biodiversity conservation, but significant challenges remain in establishing a global market for biodiversity credits due to their complexity and context-specific nature. As Charlotte Streck writes, alternative solutions like national and local schemes and standardized biodiversity claims are being explored to address these challenges.
Read MoreCOMMENT: The future of clean cooking in the carbon market
Carbon markets must learn how to deal with the application of new practices and norms in clean cooking, and ensure we take the lessons from past actions without judging them against criteria that had yet to be invented, writes Owen Hewlett of Gold Standard.
Read MoreCOMMENT: We can’t afford to get this wrong – Ensuring high integrity in agricultural carbon credits is imperative for fighting climate change
The time is now to harness high integrity crediting of agricultural soil carbon projects in global mitigation efforts, but projects must be guided by considerations derived from the Integrity Council on the Voluntary Carbon Market’s (ICVCM) Core Carbon Principles (CCP), writes Max DuBuisson, VP Sustainability Policy and Engagement at Indigo Ag.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE – Shades of REDD+: Reforming the International Financial Systems to Value High-Integrity Forests
Next week, the Republic of the Congo will host the Three Basins Summit of tropical forest basins, which account for 80% of the world’s tropical forests, house two-thirds of terrestrial biodiversity, and play an essential role in regulating the global carbon balance. Rarely has there been an event where forests play a more central role than the forthcoming meeting in Brazzaville. The Summit provides a unique opportunity to make the case for a reform of the rules of global public finance to value tropical forests as global climate and biodiversity assets, writes Charlotte Streck in a piece for Ecosystem Marketplace.
Read MoreCOMMENT: How did carbon accounting make the headlines?
Accounting rules are important, but, in a system where the fossil fuel industry is receiving a $7 trillion annual subsidy without any accounting rules whatsoever, fixing small historical inaccuracies and solving for complexity in what is now a micro-industry of REDD+ is far more constructive than ripping down the whole notion of environmental markets, writes Charles Bedford of Carbon Growth Partners.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Check the pixels, but don’t lose sight of the big picture
Rapidly scaling decarbonisation action must be our mission, as we confront an ever more terrifying climate crisis. But instead we risk slowing the pace of decarbonisation to an untenable level, warns John Connor of Australia’s Carbon Market Institute.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Don’t look up, the worrying climate change denialism
There are a few media outlets that have taken the route of sensationalising and systematically criticising emission reduction projects financed through carbon credits, but we cannot continue to belittle all the efforts that are being made to achieve net zero, writes Alexis Leroy of Allcot.
Read MoreCOMMENT: Four reasons why “nationalisation risk” is not so risky
Governments’ recent declarations to exercise more control over carbon market activities in their jurisdictions are far less an example of “nationalisation risk” than a case of a maturing market where countries are making an understandable and arguably inevitable assertion of sovereignty over their natural resources, writes Verra’s Robin Rix.
Read MoreECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE: “Carbon cowboy” pieces get clicks, but at the risk of ignoring what indigenous communities are actually saying
The climate finance space is at risk. Confronted with an onslaught of agenda-driven media coverage aiming to discredit one of the largest sources of funding available for forest protection, mechanisms like REDD+ and voluntary carbon markets could be unfairly discredited to the point of losing momentum and support at a critical time for climate action. REDD+ credits, specifically projects financed through the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), have faced increasing criticism in the media over the past year.
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