Episode 02: Tropical Forests, REDD+ Finance, and Nature-Based Carbon Offsets with Frances Seymour, Distinguished Senior Fellow at World Resources Institute

Solving Climate, Naturally

In this episode, we discuss the importance of tropical forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and we take a tour of natural climate solutions over the years. Frances discusses the evolution of global programs to pay developing countries to protect against deforestation, the merits of conservation vs. tree planting, and her recent work around nature-based solutions as offsets in corporate sustainability strategies.

In this episode, we touch on:

- Non-carbon pathways through which forests help moderate the climate, and why “a ton is not a ton, is not a ton” of emissions abatement

- Evolution of REDD+ over the years, and the importance of a jurisdictional (vs. project-based) approach to carbon crediting

- Why both “climate world” and “development world” underinvest in natural climate solutions

- Advice for corporate sustainability teams on how to think about offsets

If Frances had a magic wand, how would she scale up natural climate solutions? In addition to reducing their own emissions, we need big corporate buyers to make forward commitments to paying good prices for jurisdictional-scale REDD+ credits that meet a high standard.

Want to learn more? Check out these resources:

- Consideration of Nature-Based Solutions as Offsets in Corporate Climate Change Mitigation Strategies (Frances Seymour and Paige Langer, March 2021)

- 3 Tips for Companies Navigating the Use of Carbon Credits from Nature (Frances Seymour and Paige Langer, March 2021) – WRI blog accompanying the working paper

- Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) – developed TREES standard for ensuring environmental and social integrity on the supply side of REDD+ credits

- Global Forest Review – Global Forest Watch (GFW)’s new website that provides insights on 2020 tree cover loss

- 2021 Must Be a Turning Point for Forests. 2020 Data Shows Us Why (Frances Seymour, March 2021)

- Seeing the Forests as well as the (Trillion) Trees in Corporate Climate Strategies (Frances Seymour, May 2020)

- 4 Reasons Why a Jurisdictional Approach for REDD+ Crediting Is Superior to a Project-Based Approach (Frances Seymour, May 2020)

- Reducing Tropical Deforestation (Frances Seymour and Nancy Harris, August 2019 in Science) – brief read on the drivers of tropical deforestation

- Why Forests? Why Now? (2016)

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Episode recorded on: February 5, 2021