Everland signals the Voluntary Carbon Market is ready to protect rainforests and limit global temperature rise

Amsterdam, 03 November 2022. On the eve of COP27, Josh Tosteson, President of Everland signaled to business leaders that a scalable solution for protecting threatened forests is readily available to help meet the ambitions of the Paris Climate Agreement. Speaking at this week’s Sustainable Landscapes and Commodities Forum held in Amsterdam, Tosteson led discussions focused on how REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is a proven solution to halt climate change and ready to scale in line with the need to end deforestation.

Spotlighting real-world solutions led by pioneers in the field: Wildlife Works, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlife Alliance, Tosteson discussed the value in scaling forest conservation projects without which we will not be able to prevent irreversible climate change. “By scaling REDD+ projects through meaningful collaboration between governments, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples and local communities and corporations, we can build on a proven solution to save forests, protect wildlife and bring investment capital for sustainable community development with the urgency that is needed,” Tosteson said.

Through successful forest protection, REDD+ projects generate verified emissions reductions which local communities and host governments can sell to corporations who voluntarily offset unavoidable emissions as part of their plans to meet net-zero targets. The market, as estimated by global consultancy firm McKinsey, for such credits topped $1 billion in value in 2021 and is expected to grow 15x by 2050.

With COP27 fast approaching, world leaders will be expected to report back on the progress towards the Glasgow Declaration on Forests, a commitment of 141 countries to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Considering the discussions due to be had at at COP27, Tosteson said, “At Everland, alongside our developer partners we want to create action at the urgency and scale needed to mitigate climate change, we therefore need to use existing, proven solutions such as Community-based REDD+ to transform the drivers of deforestation into durable incentives for forest conservation.”

Emphasizing the role that REDD+ can play in meeting deforestation commitments, Jeff Hayward, Global Director, Quality & Practice at Wildlife Works, said “Community-driven REDD+ projects put Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the driver’s seat to bend the arc of deforestation. Utilizing finance from the sale of verified carbon emissions reductions they create employment and economic opportunities, support better education for their children, improve farming practices and confront challenges of food security, while protecting the forest around them.” 

This Summer Everland unveiled The Forest Plan. The plan outlines Everland’s ambitions to support government and community efforts to facilitate the protection of 23 million hectares of highly threatened forests thereby generating 90 million tons of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) annually or 800 million tons cumulatively from high-impact REDD+ projects by 2030.

Tosteson said, “The voluntary carbon market is ready to provide transformative financing to the stewards of our most precious rainforests now. We invite governments and local communities to collaborate with us in maximizing the potential of project-based REDD+ towards meeting climate change commitments.”

The Forest Plan is available for download via: https://www.theforestplan.earth.