CMIA responds to REDD+ report, identifies key errors
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Climate Connect News, London, 11 August 2011: In a critique of the recent report titled “REDD and Forest Carbon: Market-Based Critique and Recommendations” authored by the Munden Project, the Carbon Markets & Investors Association (CMIA) has said that the report does not examine the existing carbon markets. This, an emailed statement from CMAI states, has led to the authors making three key errors in their analysis:
1.They assume that emission reductions based on credited projects will never be suitable for the commodity markets.
2. They miss the concept that the primary and secondary markets for carbon credits can and do happily co-exist and in fact, both are necessary to be able to help project developers hedge their carbon exposure and raise project finance.
3.They overlook the rapid pace with which carbon credit contract structures evolved to greatly reduce any market asymmetries and perceived inequity between buyers and sellers.
The statement also adds that the report contains a number of inferences about how REDD+ would fare under the carbon markets by drawing examples from a wide range of commodities but never from carbon itself. The statement suggests that there is a great deal of knowledge currently being accrued through various standards (Verified Carbon Standard, Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance and Gold Standard) that countries may wish to consider when designing a REDD+ crediting system.
The REDD+ Report was published in March 2011 by the Munden Project. Carbon market participants have been critical of the report as can be seen from comments of their trade orgnaizations like the CMIA which is an international trade association representing firms that finance, invest in, and provide enabling support to activities that reduce emissions.
Keywords: CMIA, REDD+, Munden Report, VCS, CCBA, Gold Standard
Publishing author: Climate Connect Newsdesk
For more information on this article, please contact: info@climate-connect.co.uk
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