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State of forest carbon finance 2021: a green growth spurt

A new report from Ecosystem Marketplace, shows that funding to conserve and increase carbon stored in forests around the world has more than doubled between 2016 and 2019. But authors say forest carbon finance still falls far short of what’s needed to counter global forest loss and support increased climate ambition. The report, State of Forest Carbon Finance 2021, provides a comprehensive overview of the current scale and outlook for three main mechanisms for forest carbon finance: compliance and voluntary carbon markets, and REDD+. In compliance carbon markets, parties buy and sell carbon offsets to meet regulatory obligations from governments. Voluntary markets also exist for actors who want to buy offsets to voluntarily reduce their carbon footprint. REDD+, which stands for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation,” is a framework created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to channel funding and support to developing countries to protect their forests.