Oh, Yay, We're Saved: Opaque, Unverifiable Carbon Credit Market Booms In Void Bolosonaro Created
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However, the same regulatory and certification flexibility that allows for diverse, freewheeling projects such as Fortaleza do Ituxi and Café Apuí is viewed critically by Pinheiro. “Even with very serious certifiers, these projects can’t assure their environmental integrity, because it works on a project basis,” he says. “By protecting one area, it may just be driving the deforestation to the area [next door]. In Brazil, for example, it was very clear that when the government managed to reduce deforestation in the Amazon [rainforest biome], it increased a lot in the Cerrado, [the neighboring savanna biome].”
This problem, known as leakage, is just one of several criticisms leveled at voluntary REDD+ projects, which defenders have tried to address. “The leakage is totally monitored. If there is leakage in your area, you have to discount it from the carbon credits of your project,” says Dallan from Carbonext.
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Another REDD+ criticism arises from the uncertainty surrounding promises made in the present about forested lands that may see intense deforestation in the future. In Brazil, for example, with its horrific record of annual wildfires and illegal clear-cutting, how can anyone ensure that the native trees that generate carbon credits this week will be there the following month? “You are mortgaging the forest for the next five or 10 years,” says Maureen Santos, a coordinator with FASE, a Brazilian NGO. Dallan counters that argument by noting that carbon credits can only be claimed after a land audit, which certifies deforestation that has already been avoided. She acknowledges, nevertheless, that some clients may pay for credits in advance. “In some cases you can do a future purchase. Then, the buyer usually gets a lower price [for the credits] but also assumes the risk to not have these credits later, in case the project has some problem. Before the audit, he can’t compensate or even sell these credits.”
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Moss is barely a year old, founded in March 2020 by Luís Adaime, an executive with lots of finance experience but little knowledge of the Amazon. “My previous works had nothing to do with the environmental area, but one thing that I learnt in all these years in the financial market was to identify an opportunity in a dis-arbitrated market, which lacks information,” he told Mongabay. Moss calls itself the biggest carbon platform in the world, accounting for 20% of the voluntary market. It claims to have sold more than 800,000 tons of carbon credits in six months, valued at $10 million. The company’s first major innovation came when it transformed carbon credits into easily traded tokens — digital coins negotiable via cryptocurrencies stocks. “It added security to a market that always lacked transparency,” Adaime says.
Ed. - Emphasis added.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/government-inaction-prompts-voluntary-redd-carbon-credit-boom-in-brazil/
