Paying the Forest to Stand
At Bali in December 2007 the world accepted an idea Kyoto had refused: pay tropical countries for the carbon in forests they choose not to cut. Norway funded it first, and Brazil, Indonesia, Guyana, and others followed. The credits that grew from it became discredited, so Brazil launched a fund in Belém in 2025 that pays by the hectare with no credits. Brazilian deforestation has fallen, driven mainly by enforcement and weather.
Who's who
- Nicholas SternEconomist whose 2006 review ranked avoided deforestation among the cheapest large cuts
- Jens StoltenbergNorwegian prime minister who pledged up to 3 billion kroner yearly
- Jair Bolsonaro+1 more episodeBrazilian president whose government froze the Amazon Fund in 2019
- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva+1 more episodeBrazilian president who restarted the Amazon Fund in 2023
- Marina SilvaBrazilian environment minister behind the enforcement turn
- Irfaan AliPresident of Guyana, which sold forest credits to Hess
- Bharrat JagdeoGuyana's vice-president and defender of high-forest, low-deforestation crediting
Where it happens
- Bali, Indonesia2007 climate conference that adopted REDD+
- Belém, BrazilWhere the Tropical Forest Forever Facility launched in November 2025
- Amazon Rainforest, BrazilRecipient of Norway's payments through the Amazon Fund
- GuyanaSold 37.5 million credits to Hess in 2022
- Pará, BrazilFirst Brazilian state with a LEAF deal; sued by federal prosecutors
Timeline
- December 2007Bali Action Plan writes REDD+ into the climate convention; Norway pledges funding.
- 2008Brazil's Amazon Fund is created.
- April 2023Lula restarts the Amazon Fund after Bolsonaro froze it in 2019.
- December 2, 2022Guyana agrees to sell Hess 37.5 million credits for at least $750 million.
- November 2025Brazil launches the Tropical Forest Forever Facility at Belém.
- 2025Brazil's official deforestation figure falls to its lowest since 2014.
Still debated
About 84 percent of Guyana's credits come from a high-forest, low-deforestation adjustment, which Guyana defends and critics reject, and consent from Amerindian villages is also disputed. Brazilian criminal cases against carbon dealers are charges only, with no convictions. Enforcement, rainfall, and prices all contributed to falling deforestation.
