A new report published by Global Canopy Programme, the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), Fauna & Flora International, and the UNEP Finance Initiative highlights highlights the need for public financing to stimulate interim demand for REDD+ between 2015-2020.

Currently, approximately 15% of global carbon emissions are a result of deforestation. As the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation is a major contributor to climate change. REDD+ works to address this issue by targeting the economic incentives that are the source of the problem. The REDD+ mechanism generates financial incentives for developing countries and local communities to reduce carbon emissions by making trees more valuable standing than felled.

The report reveals that current demand for REDD+ emission reductions accounts for only 3% of the estimated supply available between 2015 and 2020. This is potential “missed opportunity” to help meet the EU’s proposed target of reducing deforestation by 50% in 2020.

In order for REDD+ to succeed at scale in changing the economic incentives that result in deforestation, the current demand must be dramatically increased to adequately  compensate those who are working hard to protect forested lands. The report suggests that governments, public finance institutions, and the private sector must work together to stimulate demand of approximate $12 billion in order for REDD+ to decrease land-use emissions by 25%- “a proportion that would allow REDD+ to play a key role in limiting climate change to 2 degrees Celsius.”

Nick Oakes, Finance Programme Manager, Global Canopy Programme said “Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation between 2015 and 2020 should be a strategic priority for governments, given that emissions from this sector, according to the recent IPCC report, are the second largest.”

“However, large-scale demand for REDD+ emission reductions is expected to materialise only after a global compliance market comes in to existence, under the auspices of UNFCCC, in the year 2020. Right now, however, there needs to be large-scale demand for REDD+ emission reductions before 2020, otherwise the gap will continue to grow between supply and demand.”

A range of options are suggested for generating the capital required, providing adequate financial and technical assistance, and possible institutional solutions.

Read the full report from UNEP-FI.

Source: Fauna & Flora International, Global Canopy Programme