EDF Commends Integrity Council’s Approval of REDD+ Methodologies as a Step Forward for High-Integrity Forest Climate Action

The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) has approved key REDD+ carbon credit methodologies under its Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) high-integrity label. This decision represents a significant milestone in the growing alignment amongst governments, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders, and voluntary standards towards high-integrity, jurisdictional-scale (state or national level) REDD+ crediting approaches.

"High-integrity jurisdictional approaches, including the nesting of projects into these approaches, can help address and mitigate prior forest carbon crediting challenges around leakage, additionality and permanence, and their large geographic area of coverage can help scale-up forest climate action at the speed the world needs to stay on track with global climate stabilization goals", said Mark Moroge, Vice President of Forests, Environmental Defense Fund. "This decision is an important step forward for high-integrity forest carbon markets. It should give further confidence to buyers and investors that high-integrity REDD+ credits should be an essential part of their decarbonization strategies".

The Integrity Council also announced today that two further crediting levels of The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) V2.0 - including for jurisdictional-scale removals and for High Forest, Low Deforestation (HFLD) approaches - are still in the assessment process, with a final decision expected by the end of 2024. HFLD refers to forest areas that have experienced low historical rates of deforestation.

High-integrity HFLD credits are conservative, additional and represent a critical financing pathway for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to receive sorely needed resources for their additional actions like monitoring, defense and protection of Indigenous HFLD territories from deforestation threats. EDF encourages prompt approval of ART-TREES HFLD and removals crediting levels as an important next step to continue advancing integrity, scale and just transition in the voluntary carbon market.

"Scaling up finance for tropical forest conservation is essential to mitigate climate change, safeguard nature and support the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who've proven time and again to be nature's greatest allies", Moroge noted. "We therefore applaud ICVCM's approval of these REDD+ methodologies, as it represents a significant advancement in leveraging high-integrity carbon markets to solve tropical deforestation - one of the defining climate challenges of our time."

Background:

Halting the loss of tropical forests is critical for curbing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing catastrophic climate impacts. In recent years, REDD+ projects - which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, with the '+' signifying sustainable forest management, and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks - have faced criticism over issues like over-crediting and insufficient social safeguards for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. New CCP-approved REDD+ methodologies, such as the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) v2.0 by ART, address these concerns, providing a more robust approach to forest-based carbon crediting.

With today's decision, the Council determined three methodologies are eligible for the CCP label: the Verified Carbon Standard's (VCS) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework v4.1, VCS VM0048 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation v1.0, and the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES) v2.0 by ART, applicable to emissions reductions from non-high forest, low deforestation regions.

This decision aligns with existing high-integrity jurisdictional approaches to REDD+, reinforcing standards recognized by key frameworks and stakeholder coalitions - including the United Nations' Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the Tropical Forest Credit Integrity Guide, and the Biden-Harris Administration's Principles for Responsible Participation in the Voluntary Carbon Market and the Forest & Climate Leaders Partnership - underscoring the importance of unified standards in scaling high-integrity carbon markets to advance forest conservation efforts.

The Council has already approved several credit categories as CCP-eligible: Leak Detection/Repair in Gas Systems, Ozone Depleting Substances, and Landfill Gas Capture and Utilization. The HFLD Crediting Approach and the Removals Crediting Approach of the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard v2.0, as well as clean cookstove methodologies, are still in the assessment process.