Recommendations on forests in voluntary carbon markets

The document argues that forest-based carbon credits should be treated as financial contributions to climate action rather than offsets for fossil emissions. It recommends shifting support from individual projects to jurisdictional programs to drive large-scale policy change, reduce leakage, and ensure better environmental integrity. The author emphasizes the need for conservative baselines, comprehensive social and environmental safeguards, and the full involvement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including the requirement for Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).

• Forestry carbon credits should not be used to offset fossil emissions because carbon stored in trees can be released easily, while fossil emissions persist in the atmosphere for a long time. Instead, credits should be used to measure a company's financial contribution to a country's climate efforts, ensuring that such contributions are additional to deep internal emission reductions.
• Financial support should be directed toward jurisdictional programs rather than stand-alone projects to incentivize the large-scale policy and governance changes needed to stop deforestation. Jurisdictional approaches are preferred because they have a lower risk of "leakage" and can better integrate Indigenous Peoples and local communities into policy and land rights recognition.
• To maintain environmental integrity, programs must use reliable and conservative baselines, preferably based on historical emissions from the last five years. This is intended to prevent the inflation of credits and "gaming" of the system.
• Forest-based mitigation must adhere to strict social and environmental safeguards to protect biodiversity and human rights. Specifically, the rights of Indigenous Peoples must be respected through Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), access to independent grievance mechanisms, and fair benefit-sharing.

APA

Carbon Market Watch (n.d.). Recommendations on forests in voluntary carbon markets. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Voluntary-carbon-markets-and-land-credits.pdf

Chicago

Carbon Market Watch. Recommendations on forests in voluntary carbon markets. n.d. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Voluntary-carbon-markets-and-land-credits.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Carbon Market Watch |title=Recommendations on forests in voluntary carbon markets |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Voluntary-carbon-markets-and-land-credits.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{carbonmarketwatchndrecommendations, author = {{Carbon Market Watch}}, title = {{Recommendations on forests in voluntary carbon markets}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Voluntary-carbon-markets-and-land-credits.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }