New global carbon map for 2.5 billion ha of forests
Tropical forests across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia stored 247 gigatons of carbon — more than 30 years' worth of current emissions from fossil fuels use — in the early 2000s, according to a comprehensive assessment of the world's carbon stocks.
At an Environmental Finance conference this month, financers signalled strong interest to invest in forest carbon projects. Given that imminent investment is needed, how close are we to a framework that propels financers to back forestry?
The voluntary carbon market climbed to record volumes of emissions reductions last year, bouncing back from worldwide recession on the back of corporate social responsibility demand and the rise of forest-based offset supply. This picture emerges from the State and Trends of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2010, published this week by Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
For five years, Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy Finance have published the State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Reports to shed light on trading volumes, credit prices, project types, locations, and the motivations of buyers in this market. Every year’s marketplace seems more complex than the one before, as actors continually refine their programs, businesses, and investments in search of a more perfect future – for their projects and the planet.
Kenyan companies investing in carbon trading projects are set to benefit from a new fund set up by IFC to cover a financing gap arising from the European Union’s decision to stop buying carbon credits from developing countries beginning next year.
