What is REDD?

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD, is a methodology for avoiding the release of CO2 emissions and, by using these forests as carbon sinks abating future CO2 emissions.

It is estimated that 20% of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere comes from deforestation and, as a major greenhouse gas, contributes significantly to global climate change.

Recent scientific studies have concluded that old growth forests in particular store far more CO2 than was at first presumed. As CO2 is valued as a commodity, and increasingly so, it is now commercially more attractive to commit such tracts of land to long-term protection from deforestation and generate certificates from the stored carbon for trading on world markets.

The international community has now recognised the need for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) as a vital component of a comprehensive solution to the climate change problem.

In understanding the role of natural forests in the global carbon cycle, and climate change mitigation policies, the colour of carbon matters.