Climate 411

Selected tag(s): Carbon Markets

COP30 in Brazil Must Deliver for Nature and Forests – And the Stakes Have Never Been Higher

By Roselyn Fosuah Adjei  

Roselyn is a senior expert in REDD+, forest governance, and climate policy and a Distinguished Humphrey Fellow of the U.S State Department. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to EDF’s Forests team. 

Waterfall in tropical rainforest

Photo: Leslie Von Pless/ EDF

Most of us working in nature conservation think of the quickly approaching COP30 in Belém, Brazil, as the “Nature COP.”

The last time that title was used was at COP26 in Glasgow — a post-pandemic gathering that re-energized climate action after a year of global lockdowns. Glasgow gave birth to the Lowering Emission’s by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition’s first Letters of Intent with tropical forest countries, signaling unprecedented forest-finance momentum in the voluntary carbon market through an unusual blend of public and private finance. It also saw the launch of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, endorsed by over 140 countries pledging to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, and the UK-led Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which charted a path toward deforestation-free commodity supply chains.  

But even with these gains, the world has been falling short in recognizing and financing nature’s role in sustaining a livable planet.  

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Posted in Carbon Markets, Climate Finance, Forest protection, Indigenous People, Paris Agreement, REDD+, United Nations / Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Authors: / Comments are closed

Importing international carbon credits to the EU: How to make it work?

By István Bart and Pedro Martins Barata

EU flags waving

Join EDF on Monday, October 20 for the webinar EU Pathways for International Carbon Credits on Zoom

As the European Union sets a new climate goal for 2040, a key question is whether the EU should use carbon credits from outside Europe to help meet that goal. The European Commission’s July 2025 proposal intends to reopen the door to credits for the first time in over a decade. Still, it remains vague on exactly how importing should be done – that is, who should import, how much and where should the imported credits be used? Now is the time to get the design right. 

EDF’s latest publication, International Credits in the EU: Strategic Choices & Practical Implementation’, explores these questions.  It argues that if done well, importing credits could be a practical way for Europe to keep target compliance costs manageable, protect its climate ambition, and increase its influence in international climate policy. But the details matter – doing it right means we’d need strong rules on quality, clear conditions for if/when credits would be used, and a coordinated EU system to manage purchases and credit use.  

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At COP29, Article 6 must deliver on urgent finance for forests and Indigenous communities

This blog was authored by Pedro Martins Barata, Associate Vice President, Carbon Markets and Private Sector Decarbonization and Santiago García Lloré, Senior Manager, IPLC & Conservation Partnerships, Forests

UN Climate Change, Kamran-Guliyev/ Flickr

At the start of COP29, negotiators in Baku secured a major breakthrough by agreeing on new standards for a UN-led global carbon market under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, potentially unlocking billions in funding for climate projects.

But the terms of the standards are still flexible, meaning there’s a real chance to shape them to make sure the money goes where it’s needed most – like Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are fighting to conserve the planet’s last intact forests, known as high forest, low deforestation (HFLD) regions.

The stakes are higher now than ever, especially after the recent US election, which casts doubt on future public climate funding from one of the world’s biggest economies. In this uncertain landscape, carbon markets must step up to fund critical climate solutions, especially nature-based projects like forest conservation.

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Posted in Carbon Markets, Forest protection, Indigenous People, Paris Agreement, REDD+, United Nations / Also tagged , , , | Authors: , / Comments are closed

VCM 2.0: Navigating High-Integrity Carbon Markets for Corporate Impact

Ecuadorian Amazon/ EDF 2022

2024 marks a pivotal moment for carbon markets as the voluntary carbon market (VCM) transitions into its next phase: VCM 2.0, a high-integrity, high-impact market that has the potential to reshape how we tackle climate change.  But what does this mean for corporate buyers who want to use carbon credits to tackle near-term emissions on their journey to net zero? 

For companies, the path forward is clear: While decarbonizing your own operations and value chain remains the top priority, carbon credits can help you go further by compensating the emissions that are currently unavoidable. But only high-quality, high-integrity credits should be part of that equation.    

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Posted in Carbon Markets, REDD+ / Also tagged | Authors: , / Comments are closed

Progress & Next Steps on Article 6: Looking ahead to COP28

This blog was co-authored by Maggie Ferrato, Manager, Global Climate Cooperation and Pedro Martins Barata, Associate Vice President, Carbon Markets & Private Sector Decarbonization.
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