Abstract
Reducing deforestation and forest degradation presents a climate-change mitigation opportunity that is critical to meeting the Paris Agreement goals, and to achieving reductions in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) provides developing countries with results-based financial incentives for reducing deforestation and forest degradation through either non-market payments (payments without generation of carbon credits), or market-based mechanisms (carbon credits). REDD credits have been recently accepted to be used in offsetting programs (e.g., CORSIA) and are being considered under Article 6. However, various publications have questioned whether carbon credits from REDD should be accepted under market-based mechanisms, and have identified issues regarding their environmental integrity and their ability to offset emissions from other sectors. In recent years, REDD implementation has moved from the project level to the national or subnational (jurisdictional) level, and is addressing some of the concerns that have been raised for project-level interventions regarding the robustness of baselines and leakage, for example. In this paper we compare the environmental integrity of credits from REDD programs with that from on-grid renewable energy projects by examining aspects related to permanence, additionality, baselines, uncertainty, and leakage. We show that the environmental integrity of emission reductions sourced from REDD programs has unique strengths, and that those sourced from renewable energy projects have weaknesses of their own. Probably due to a lack of understanding of the respective weaknesses and strengths of these two sources of credits, the emission reductions from REDD programs have been historically questioned and subjected to a level of scrutiny that has not been made with emission reductions from other sectors, such as renewable energy projects. Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of emission reductions from both types should help decision makers and carbon standards recognize the high quality of emission reductions from REDD programs, and rationalize the current requirements or restrictions imposed.
Highlights
Forests are a crucial part of the solution to addressing the global climate crisis both because of their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2 ) from the atmosphere, and because of the contribution of CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation to global emissions [1,2].One strategy for decreasing CO2 emissions is to provide developing countries with results-based financial incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to enhanceForests 2020, 11, 1360; doi:10.3390/f11121360 www.mdpi.com/journal/forestsForests 2020, 11, 1360 removals through afforestation, reforestation, or forest growth
The objective of the current analysis is to discuss the environmental integrity of emission reductions (ERs) sourced from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programs, and to compare these with greenfield on-grid renewable energy projects, namely wind and hydro power projects, which are considered by markets as the gold standard in terms of environmental integrity
When comparing emission reductions (ERs) from REDD programs and from renewable energy projects, it is frequently assumed that the ERs from REDD programs are of lower quality
Summary
Forests are a crucial part of the solution to addressing the global climate crisis both because of their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2 ) from the atmosphere, and because of the contribution of CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation to global emissions [1,2]. The objective of the current analysis is to discuss the environmental integrity of emission reductions (ERs) sourced from REDD programs, (i.e., a set of policies, measures and frameworks that enables the reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, their accounting and crediting enables the reduction in emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, their accounting and crediting at jurisdictional level such as a nation, state or region) and to compare these with greenfield on-grid renewable energy projects (i.e., a set of measures that enables the reduction in emissions by replacing electricity generated with fossil fuels with electricity generated with renewable sources such as wind or hydro), namely wind and hydro power projects, which are considered by markets as the gold standard in terms of environmental integrity. This analysis concentrates exclusively on REDD programs and does not include in the discussion project-level REDD or activities that enhance removals of atmospheric
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