Como os mercados de carbono subestimam sistematicamente os benefícios climáticos das florestas tropicais

This report by the World Resources Institute argues that current carbon credit systems systematically undervalue tropical forests by focusing exclusively on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ignoring non-carbon biophysical effects that contribute to global cooling and climate stability.

• Tropical forests influence global and local temperatures and rainfall through four primary non-carbon biophysical processes: albedo (solar energy reflection), evapotranspiration (moisture release that cools the surface), surface roughness (wind turbulence that increases cooling), and the release of aerosols and chemical compounds that affect cloud color and ozone concentration.
• The deforestation of tropical forests contributes 50% more to global warming than carbon accounting alone suggests, as it removes critical biophysical cooling effects.
• Deforestation has severe regional and local impacts: it can reduce precipitation across national borders (e.g., Brazilian Amazon deforestation affecting rainfall in Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina) and significantly increase local peak temperatures, potentially exceeding 7.6 °C in some communities.
• Current carbon markets use conservative buffers and deductions to manage risks like non-additionality, uncertainty, non-permanence, and leakage. However, these standards are disproportionately punitive for tropical forests because they ignore the 'positive biophysical leakage' where protecting mature forests maintains a cooler, moister landscape that reduces fire and drought risks for adjacent areas.
• Ignoring non-carbon cooling effects creates economic inequalities: it undervalues tropical forest mitigation potential—which could provide an additional 1.4 to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent mitigation per year—while overestimating the value of forests at higher latitudes where albedo effects cause warming.
• The authors propose four improvements for carbon markets: balancing risk management with integrity benefits, treating biophysical effects as 'additional attributes' for premium pricing, accounting for positive biophysical leakage, and developing long-term quantification to integrate these benefits as CO2 equivalents.

APA

Nugent, N., & Seymour, F. (n.d.). Como os mercados de carbono subestimam sistematicamente os benefícios climáticos das florestas tropicais. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-02/how-carbon-markets-systematically-undervalue-tropical-forests-climate-benefits-portuguese.pdf

Chicago

Nugent, Nick, and Frances Seymour. Como os mercados de carbono subestimam sistematicamente os benefícios climáticos das florestas tropicais. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-02/how-carbon-markets-systematically-undervalue-tropical-forests-climate-benefits-portuguese.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nugent |first1=Nick |last2=Seymour |first2=Frances |title=Como os mercados de carbono subestimam sistematicamente os benefícios climáticos das florestas tropicais |publisher=World Resources Institute |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-02/how-carbon-markets-systematically-undervalue-tropical-forests-climate-benefits-portuguese.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nugentndcomo, author = {Nugent, Nick and Seymour, Frances}, title = {{Como os mercados de carbono subestimam sistematicamente os benefícios climáticos das florestas tropicais}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2024-02/how-carbon-markets-systematically-undervalue-tropical-forests-climate-benefits-portuguese.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }