Forests for Climate: Scaling up Forest Conservation to Reach Net Zero

The report advocates for a shift from project-based to jurisdictional REDD+ frameworks to halt deforestation by 2030. It emphasizes that protecting standing forests is more cost-effective than reforestation and requires significant private sector investment, estimated between $100 billion and $390 billion annually by mid-century. The document highlights the critical role of Indigenous peoples in forest stewardship and provides case studies from Brazil, Ghana, Ecuador, and Viet Nam to demonstrate the viability of jurisdictional models.

• Halting deforestation by 2030 is essential to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, with natural climate solutions potentially providing one-third of the required mitigation.
• Protecting existing forests is significantly more efficient for carbon abatement than planting new trees; avoided deforestation can offer up to nine times the low-cost carbon abatement of reforestation.
• Tropical forests are the most critical land-based ecosystem for climate stability, storing approximately one-quarter of all land-based carbon globally.
• There is a massive funding gap for forest conservation; while $100 billion to $390 billion per year will be needed by mid-century, public finance for REDD+ activities was only approximately $3 billion per year between 2008 and 2015.
• Jurisdictional REDD+ is proposed as a superior alternative to project-based approaches because it operates at a larger scale, is backed by government authority to enforce land use, and better manages risks like leakage and additionality.
• The private sector can contribute to reversing deforestation through three primary channels: eliminating deforestation in supply chains, engaging in carbon trading and offsets, and investing in nature-positive development.
• Indigenous peoples are highly effective forest guardians; deforestation rates on land governed by Indigenous communities are three to four times lower than on equivalent lands not held by them.
• The LEAF Coalition, a public-private partnership, has mobilized over $1 billion in forward-purchase agreements for jurisdictional REDD+ carbon credits to incentivize tropical forest nations.

APA

World Economic Forum (2022). Forests for Climate: Scaling up Forest Conservation to Reach Net Zero. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forests_for_Climate_2022.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Forests for Climate: Scaling up Forest Conservation to Reach Net Zero. 2022. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forests_for_Climate_2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Forests for Climate: Scaling up Forest Conservation to Reach Net Zero |date=September 2022 |url=https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forests_for_Climate_2022.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2022forests, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Forests for Climate: Scaling up Forest Conservation to Reach Net Zero}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forests_for_Climate_2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }