Forest Carbon Standards // WWF

A plethora of different carbon standards exists today. A general frameworkneeds to be developed, to assess the credibility and effectivenessof these standards.

"...Forests are now widely recognised as playing a key role in regulating global carbon cycles, comprising as they do the largest terrestrial store of carbon. Deforestation and forest degradation – mostly in the tropics – are responsible for about 15 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.1 Managing forest carbon stocks is therefore a critical component of any comprehensive approach to keeping the rise in global temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius.

Concerns about the climate change implications of deforestation have led to the development of numerous initiatives to try and harness the GHG reduction potential of efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD). Some of these initiatives have focussed on developing projects for the voluntary carbon market.

This market has developed over recent years as more and more companies, governments, organisations and the general public are willing to offset their climate footprint through the funding of projects, including forest projects which reduce GHG emissions.

2 Even the inconclusive results of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen do not appear to have negatively impacted the demand for forestry as a voluntary offset option.

3 Voluntary carbon offsets bring together the demand for compensation
of emissions from energy use with investors and project proponents who can deliver carbon emission reduction credits from forest projects. There is also a range of voluntary forest carbon activities that are aiming to reduce carbon emissions but are not ultimately seeking crediting or offsetting. These usually take place at a project or landscape level.

Alongside these voluntary carbon projects is an emerging set of national REDD programs and early actions to support the development of national REDD programs. In the context of the international climate negotiations, the concept of REDD has been expanded (and renamed REDD-plus) to address not only deforestation and forest degradation, but also the conservation of forest carbon stocks, the sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. While the Copenhagen
conference did not produce an international agreement on the post-2012 climate deal, it did move forward on developing REDD-plus..."