What is REDD+ and why is it important?

REDD+

CCP-Approved methodologies include Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+). What is it and why is it important?

What’s the challenge?

Forests cover 31% of the world’s land mass and store approximately 861 gigatonnes of carbon, making them vital ecosystems. They are also some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to 75% of the world’s bird species and 68% of mammals. Protecting and restoring them is essential for tackling the twin biodiversity and climate crises.

Forests stabilise the local climate by acting as a buffer against extreme temperatures and about a fifth of the world’s population depends on forests for their livelihood.

Halting the loss and degradation of forest ecosystems and promoting their restoration has the potential to contribute at least 30% of the climate change mitigation required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and keep the global average temperature rise at or below 2 degrees Celsius.

However, destroying or damaging forests turns them into sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 15 billion trees are cut down or degraded every year, resulting in 5-10 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide being released back into the atmosphere. If deforestation were a country, it would have been the fourth-highest emitter in 2023. Other negative impacts include biodiversity and species loss, soil damage and resource scarcity impacting local livelihoods.

Meeting global climate targets requires halting deforestation by 2030, as emphasised in the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration of Forests and Land Use. Achieving this objective requires substantial financial investment, with estimates suggesting an annual need of $542 billion by 2030 to protect and restore forests globally. Without the finance unlocked through high-integrity carbon credits, achieving this level of investment will be extremely challenging.

Top down view of piles of tree trunks following deforestation.

How does REDD+ work?

REDD+ is a United Nations-backed framework that aims to curb climate change by stopping the destruction of forests. It stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in

Developing Countries. The “+” signifies the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Forest protection prevents emissions from deforestation, shields stored carbon, protects biodiversity, and enables carbon sequestration.

The aim of REDD+ projects is to conserve forests and reduce deforestation through “results-based finance”. This enables countries and businesses to pay countries and communities not to cut down their forests, in exchange for carbon credits.

REDD+ projects and programs are either jurisdictional REDD+ or project-based REDD+. Each have distinct characteristics:

Jurisdictional: Operates at a large scale, covering entire regions, states or countries. Managed by governments or regional authorities, it addresses deforestation in a coordinated, strategic way that minimises the risk of deforestation shifting from protected to unprotected areas. Jurisdictional REDD+ credits are aligned with national climate strategies, specifically contributing to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and help meet overarching climate goals.
Project-Based: Focuses on specific, defined areas and often managed by independent developers, NGOs or communities. Credits are generated based on localised monitoring and often independently of broader jurisdictional frameworks.

It is important to note that the sale of carbon credits from REDD+ projects on the voluntary carbon market operates separately to the UN-REDD+ mechanism under the UNFCCC.

Co-benefits of REDD+

REDD+ has the potential to deliver social and environmental benefits that go beyond the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. These include:

Including traditional ecological knowledge into project design.
Conserving the benefits that people and societies get from forests, including forest carbon stocks and livelihoods.
Increasing emissions reductions and removals and local communities abilities to adapt to climate change by funding climate projects by funding projects at the local level that strengthen community resilience
Creating material opportunities for wealth creation and well-being, such as jobs, revenue streams, infrastructure and improved educational conditions.
Enhancing populations’ security, including land tenure security for local communities, food and water security, livelihood security, and adaptability to climate change.
Improved forest governance and empowering individuals and communities to participate in decisions affecting local land use and development.

Lush forest greenery and forest biodiversity.

Which REDD+ methodologies have the Integrity Council approved?

(ART) The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) v2.0, TREES Crediting Level
(VCS) VM0048 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation v1.0
(VCS) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework v4.1

Decisions on two further ART methodological modules – ART TREES (HFLD) and ART TREES (Removals) – are under active consideration and will be published in due course.

A full list of CCP-Approved Landfill Gas (LFG) methodologies, along with those still in assessment, can be found in our assessment status table.

What percentage of credits do CCP approved REDD+ methodologies represent?

Since these are new methodologies, no credits have yet been issued under them. However, a number of projects and programs are being developed now and are expected to start generating credits tagged with the high-integrity CCP-label in early 2025.

11 projects under (VCS) VM0048 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation v1.0
3 projects under (VCS) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework v4.1
21 programs under (ART) The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) v2.0, TREES Crediting Level

The volume of CCP-labelled credits will be small in the short term, but it will grow as programs and project developers respond develop new projects under approved methodologies.