A recent publication by Chagas et al. (2020), entitled “A close look at the quality of REDD+ carbon credits,” combined with a spike in interest from the private sector seeking to deliver on carbon neutrality commitments, has stirred up the debate of what constitutes a “good forest carbon credit” or, from a broader perspective, what constitutes a real or credible emission reduction/removal (ER/R) from the forest sector.
These contributions are just the latest in a round of discussions that have been taking place among academics, politicians, decision makers, NGOs, supporting agencies, interested parties, implementing parties, and standard developers for more than a decade – discussions that have yielded surprisingly little consensus on fundamental questions. The aim of these discussions has been not only to figure out what constitutes a “good” credit but also to determine how these credits are to be delivered.
