Potential for $430M Sale in Recognition of Efforts to Reduce Deforestation
On November 14, 2024, the Secretary for the Environment and Water Resources of Tocantins, Brazil, Marcello Lelis, presented to the Executive Director of the Architecture for REDD+ Transaction – ART, Mary Grady, the TREES Registration Document and its attachments, that provide a full description of how Tocantins – a Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCFTF) member state in Brazil – plans to meet the requirements of the TREES Standard. The document was presented during an official side event at the UNFCCC COP29, together with the participation of representatives of the Brazilian Ministry for the Environment and Climate Change, Earth Innovation Institute (EII), Tocantins Carbono Co., and the energy and commodity company Mercuria.
Mary Grady stated that the document presented by Tocantins is an important step in the history of REDD+ and under the TREES Standard, which aims to attract private investment for jurisdictions that reduce deforestation in tropical forest. There are 24 jurisdictions working in the accreditation process to the Standard. Tocantins is the first subnational government in the world to complete the necessary legal, technical and political steps under the Standard.
EII led the preparation of the documents presented by Tocantins. Daniel Nepstad, President of EII, stated that the process started some years ago in an event hosted by the then-Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. California later adopted the first subnational regulation for climate change in the world and included a provision that sought to incentivize the development of jurisdictional REDD+ efforts. The GCFTF grew out of that event, and this task force now covers 1/3 of the tropical forests in the world.
Tocantin’s achievement results from years of hard work that started in 2018 under the Warsaw Framework for REDD+ and country regulations, with the lead of the GCFTF and the support of the Government of Norway. As part of those efforts, the GCFTF established an ecosystem of stakeholders and partners aiming to develop high-integrity, jurisdictional programs to access carbon market opportunities and other sources of financing to further protect forests and benefit communities.
For more on this important announcement, see the following Reuters article: Brazil’s Tocantins state to offer $430 million in carbon credits | Reuters