Shift2Neutral’s big REDD deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Australian carbon trading company Shift2Neutral aims to become “the leading neutraliser of carbon emissions in the world”. The company appeared to come closer realising its aim this week when Reuters reported that Shift2Neutral “signed a deal aimed at protecting tropical forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as boosting renewable energy there”.

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Two new reports highlight the problems with REDD in the Congo Basin

PHOTO: Scott Thompson, World Resources Institute, 2008.

The Congo Basin forest is the second largest in the world after the Amazon. It accounts for one quarter of the world’s remaining tropical forest and covers an area of 1.8 million square kilometres. Clearly, whatever comes out of Copenhagen on REDD has to work in the Congo Basin. Two new reports take a critical look at REDD in the Congo Basin. The first, “Global Climate Politics in the Congo Basin: Unprecedented Opportunity or High-risk Gamble?” is written by Korinna Horta of International Finance, Development and Environment, and published by Heinrich Böll Stiftung. The second, “Why Congo Basin countries stand to lose out from a market based REDD“, is written by Kate Dooley of FERN.

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“I think there is general agreement that in Copenhagen significant reforms of the CDM, uh Collective Development Mechanism, ah Cooperative Development Mechanism, have to be implemented . . . I agree with ya.” — Al Gore, January 2009

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