Current Status and Developments in REDD+ Globally

Protecting and restoring tropical forests is a large-scale and cheap way to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change encourages the international transaction of credits for reducing emissions from tropical deforestation (REDD+). A large-scale buyer of REDD+ credits has yet to emerge, but several promising developments have occurred recently. Bilateral agreements, e.g., between Brazil and Norway, have shown proof of the concept of payment-for-performance for forest conservation. Several “rulebooks” have been written for transacting REDD+ credits, including by the Carbon Fund of the multilateral Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. California is considering including tropical forest offsets in its cap-and-trade program, while the International Civil Aviation Organization’s pledge of carbon-neutral growth could result in the purchase of REDD+ credits. Meanwhile, some tropical countries, like India, are using domestic finance creatively to protect their forests.