The State of The International Forest Carbon Market 2009

Abstract

Covering roughly 30% of global land area (4 billion ha2) and storing more than double the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, forest ecosystems act as an enormous carbon reservoir or “sink”. The potential of forests to play a significant role as emissions offsets in carbon markets and mitigate climate change is immense. A number of factors including the uncertainty of offset potential, project verification and additionality, and uncertain methodology for offset credit transferability have led to limited use of forest carbon offsets in current compliance markets. While current uncertainties prevent forest carbon from playing a large-scale role in established compliance markets, the introduction of credible forest offset standards which reduce project uncertainty, coupled with the ability of forest carbon offsets to act as the “low hanging fruit” of carbon offsets, make forest carbon projects a more favorable option for widespread inclusion in policy making. Seeking to fill information gaps within the highly fragmented forest carbon market, this report is the first of its kind to educate market participants, policy makers, and the general public about the current status of the international forest carbon market. This project serves to accelerate the transfer of information between stakeholders and offer insights into the state, health and future viability of the forest carbon market.