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

The report contends that carbon markets focus exclusively on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, failing to account for four key biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—that allow tropical forests to cool the planet. This omission leads to an underestimation of the mitigation potential of tropical forests, which could provide an additional 1.4 to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent mitigation per year. The authors argue that this creates an inequitable system that penalizes tropical nations and indigenous communities while overvaluing forests in higher latitudes. To correct this, the document recommends incorporating biophysical effects as additional credit attributes, recognizing 'positive biophysical leakage' that enhances landscape resilience, and developing long-term methods to quantify these benefits as CO2 equivalents.

• Tropical forests influence global and local temperatures and rainfall through four primary non-carbon biophysical processes: albedo (solar energy reflection), evapotranspiration (moisture release), surface roughness (wind turbulence), and the release of aerosols.
• On a global scale, the deforestation of tropical forests contributes 50% more to global warming than carbon accounting alone suggests, as it removes significant biophysical cooling effects.
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon impacts rainfall patterns across national borders, affecting precipitation in Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, which increases risks to water and food security.
• Local deforestation can lead to extreme temperature increases; while the general greenhouse effect may cause a 1 °C average increase, the hottest part of the day can rise by over 7.6 °C for local communities losing forest cooling.
• Ignoring biophysical cooling effects results in an underestimation of mitigation potential; including these effects could provide an additional 1.4 to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent mitigation per year, a volume comparable to Japan's total anthropogenic emissions in 2019.
• Current carbon market standards exacerbate global inequalities by being overly conservative with tropical forest credits while being overly generous to credits from higher latitudes where albedo effects cause warming.
• The concept of 'positive biophysical leakage' suggests that protecting tropical forests benefits adjacent unprotected areas by maintaining cooler and moister environments, which reduces the risk of CO2 emissions from drought and wildfires.
• The authors propose four improvements for carbon markets: balancing integrity risks with benefits, using biophysical effects as premium attributes, accounting for positive biophysical leakage, and developing long-term CO2-equivalence quantification for non-carbon benefits.

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} }