Relae, in partnership with Microsoft, has released a new paper that offers an innovative science-based framework for designing and evaluating high-quality improved forest management (IFM) credits.
The framework outlines practices related to baselines and additionality, leakage accounting, and social impacts.
Improved forest management refers to managing existing forests so they store more CO2 while continuing to produce timber. It includes practices such as extending harvest rotations, reducing logging intensity, and enhancing riparian buffer protection.
The carbon credits generated through IFM are one of the fastest-scaling credit types in the voluntary carbon market. In this regard, since 2008, over 274 million credits have been issued from 1,056 IFM projects, representing 29% of all forestry and land-use credits.
With the newly released framework, Relae and Microsoft are giving developers and buyers specific tools to fill in the missing pieces between minimum registry requirements and what high-quality credits actually demand as the IFM sector advances.
The framework is organized around three central areas: baselines and additionality, leakage risk, and community impact. For each of the three areas, the publication provides practical tools for developers and buyers.
In the publication, the authors point out that baselines and additionality are the foundation of IFM crediting, stressing that the two must be linked, since the way in which a project measures its baseline determines whether its additionality claim is actually credible.
The paper calls for leakage risk assessment through practical, individualized, evidence-based indicators, highlighting that this aspect should not be left to inconsistent and unreliable methodologies.
Source link
