Increasing Climate Ambitions through High-Integrity Forest Carbon Markets

WHEN: 16 November, 11.00 - 12.00 

WHERE: Persada Annex 307

LINK TO JOIN ONLINE: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:meeting_YzU2ZjdmN2YtMTFhOS00NWNjLTkwMmQtZWU5NjY3ZmE4MDI2@thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22:%222a6c12ad-406a-4f33-b686-f78ff5822208%22,%22Oid%22:%229b1c9eec-0dda-4fbc-8d82-aa86530afdd2%22%7D 

WHAT:

The regional climate response falls short, closing emissions gap only partially, and still far from the required 43% for 1.5°C limits by 2030. Forests and carbon markets offer a promising solution, but the current price paid for carbon is not high enough to incentivize stronger climate ambitions and to tap into the mitigation potential of forests which often have high opportunity cost. The absence of international support, confidence-building measures, and supply-side signals for high-integrity forest carbon credits, including jurisdictional and nested credits, volume, and value targets, remain as barriers. 

This dialogue will explore the role of forest carbon in broader climate strategies and NDCs; policy levers for transitioning to high-integrity forest carbon markets; and how raising forest ambition could result in additional benefits whilst keeping the goals of the Paris agreement alive. It will formulate actionable recommendations to bridge the finance-ambition gap, thereby significantly contributing to the Global Stocktake process.

Framing questions

1. Where we are: How are countries maximizing the potentials of forest action in their NDCs?  What role can forest carbon play in broader climate strategies, and how can unlocking the potentials of forest action increase ambitions and result in additional benefits?
2. Where we are going: How can forest countries lead the transition to high-integrity carbon markets, and generate clear supply-side signals for forest carbon credits, including jurisdictional and nested credits, to attract greater private and public demand, especially considering minimum volume and value targets?
3. How do we get there: What actionable recommendations can be formulated to bridge the gap between climate finance and ambition, and how can they significantly contribute to the Global Stocktake process? How can these be monitored transparently? 

Expected Outcome of the event 

1. Increased dialogue between the buyers, sellers and intermediaries of forest carbon to build consensus on how to overcome barriers hindering the transition to high-integrity forest carbon markets.
2. Identified concrete entry points for integrating forest carbon within wider climate goals and policies such as NDCs by aligning it with other climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.
3. Forged new partnerships across multiple stakeholder groups to champion integrated forest management approaches, considering different scales and financing sources.
4. Co-created actionable recommendations to bridge the climate finance and ambition gaps, and significantly contribute to the Global Stocktake process.

Partners:  FAO, UNEP, UNDP (UN-REDD)