This methodology would effectively invalidate the idea of “avoided deforestation”: how can you improve on 100 percent forest cover other than by planting more trees-a distinct practice in itself called “afforestation”? There would be no carbon credits to award. Absolute baselines would mean comparing current forest cover against forest cover at some point in the past. These include absolute and business-as-usual (BAU) markers. You can’t count progress without a point of comparison, and you can’t count carbon credits without estimating what emissions would have occurred without an intervention. Arguably, an even greater problem is baselines. This raises the question: what does it mean to “conserve” a forested area? One problem is longevity (ie, whether the protection is reliably long-lasting, and the trees won’t just be cleared in the next administration). “Avoided deforestation” credits represent successful efforts to conserve forested areas. The Verra scandal is about voluntary carbon markets. Carbon offsetting is the practice of “cancelling out” real emissions with emissions reductions, and this can be done in either a voluntary or legally compelled (“compliance”) capacity. What are avoided deforestation credits?Ĭarbon credits are a way of counting reductions in carbon emissions. The implications of the scandal for development in the Global South are significant: Northern countries like Norway have invested large sums in forestry projects overseas-ostensibly to encourage greener development pathways-and Amazonian indigenous communities face the threat of ‘carbon pirates’ leveraging information asymmetries to establish land-based carbon projects on indigenous lands. The legitimacy of this form of carbon offsetting (used by the likes of Gucci, Shell, and Disney) hangs in the balance. Verra responded with an emphatic rebuttal. Specifically, investigative journalists at SourceMaterial (partnered with the Guardian) claimed that only six percent of Verra’s avoided deforestation credits represented real emissions reductions. On 18 January 2023, the Guardian published an explosive article accusing Verra-the world’s premier certifier of carbon credits-of grossly overstating the emissions reductions associated with its “avoided deforestation” credits. MSc Development Studies alum Alejandra Padin-Dujon unpacks the recent controversy involving the carbon credit certifier Verra, wherein investigative journalists questioned Verra’s ‘avoided deforestation’ credits, claiming these have been overstating the level of carbon offsetting actually achieved.
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