Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets
public about climate change and their potential role in addressing the
problem.”
Source: “Investing in Forest Carbon: Lessons from the First 20 Years”. January 2011,
Forest Trends, The Katoomba Group, Ecosystem Marketplace, and Bio-Logical Capital.
The forestry VCM is a diverse and dynamic system that is changing all
the time, so it is wise to keep the following points in mind:
Expect the price of carbon to be low, and volatile
The value of a carbon credit changes all the time. It can change based
on general trends in the market, but its value also depends on the kind
of standard used to certify the carbon credits generated through the
project. Forest carbon credits are generally worth less than carbon
credits from other kinds of VCM projects, such as renewable energy
projects. One reason is because forest carbon that has been sequestered
can be re-emitted into the atmosphere, i.e. it has less permanence (see
Glossary).
Project developers should expect the price of carbon to change
between the time they begin the project and the time they are ready
to start selling carbon credits.
As Table 2 shows, the value of forestry VCM carbon credits has increased
recently, while the price paid for energy-based credits has dropped.
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