Including Reduced Emissions from International Forest Carbon in Climate Policy: Understanding the Economics

Author(s): Nicholas Institute Staff

Published: March 2009

download: policy brief (.pdf) >

Deforestation and forest degradation currently account for about 15% to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding the global emissions of the transportation sector. But efforts to curb deforestation and degradation have not yet been incorporated into the binding agreements to reduce GHGs such as the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Given the enormity of deforestation, and the realization that the world’s remaining tropical forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, it is no longer a question of whether the prevention of forest carbon losses should be part of a global climate agreement, but one of how. Policymakers are now considering the inclusion of reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) into the UNFCCC post-Kyoto climate agreements. At the same time, legislators in the United States Congress continue to craft proposals to cap greenhouse gas emissions, several of which include a role for reduced emissions or increased sequestration of international forest carbon stocks as part of the policy portfolio.