The UN REDD Programme Policy Board approved $35.5 million in readiness funding, including allocations to the national programs of Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire and Mongolia. Meanwhile, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility accepted Chile and Vietnam into its REDD pipeline, and provisionally accepted Peru.
Forestry and land use projects took home 45% market share on the voluntary carbon market in 2013, according to Ecosystem Marketplace’s State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2014 report. Buyers such as National Geographic and Getafe are attracted to forest carbon projects because of their many benefits beyond emissions reductions. Getafe, a Spanish soccer club, is currently asking its fans to choose among three forest carbon projects in Latin America to offset its carbon footprint.
Natural capital accounting receives another boost as a UK water utility becomes the first of its kind to develop an environmental profit & loss account. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) received a boost as well, with passage of Peru’s PES law establishing a framework for compensation regarding ecosystem services.
A la fecha, todos hemos visto las imágenes: Miami inundada, Singapur sumergido, países de litorales bajos como Bangladesh diezmados después de que placas de hielo de la Antártica se deslizan al mar – un evento que la NASA dice es inevitable ahora que los cimientos de las placas se han vuelto en aguanieve. Sin embargo, […]
FIFA has pledged to offset direct carbon emissions from the World Cup just as Brazil became the first country to submit its national data on emissions reductions achieved by avoided deforestation—the first step in allowing large-scale REDD funding to flow. In other news, China’s carbon markets are inching into forestry, with one afforestation project awaiting validation.
Natural capital accounting is generating a lot of attention lately with a new report warning companies of the perils of ignoring natural capital risk while the World Bank-led WAVES initiative is noting some advancements in the space. And BBOP is back from the London Zoo with feedback on the no net loss of biodiversity summit.
The Obama Administration last week released proposed rules for power plant emissions that are intended to be as flexible as possible while still being legally defensible. The news boosted allowance prices in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative while California and Quebec announced preparations for their first joint auction in November. Meanwhile, China is exploring ways to convert CDM offsets for use in their domestic emission trading systems.
In an exclusive interview with Ecosystem Marketplace, Heru Prasetyo, who took the helm of Indonesia’s new REDD+ Management Agency in December, talks about Indonesia’s plan to move palm production to degraded land, why REDD+ is the new oil, and everything in between. And in other news, teen activists won’t rest until the Girl Scouts ensure its cookies are deforestation-free.
The market for forest carbon offsets was challenged to say the least in 2013, with some developers forced to unload offsets at less-than-ideal prices. But Brian McFarland, Director of Carbon Projects and Origination for Bethesda, Maryland-based CarbonFund.org, believes there is some reason for optimism, particularly if a compliance market such as California’s steps up.
The Brazilian government this week approved a mechanism that lets property owners who deforested more than their legal limit before 2008 offset their “forest debt” by purchasing credits from landowners who have not. Proponents say it could save 10 million hectares of forest, while critics say the larger policy still lets too many environmental scofflaws off the hook.