High-Integrity Carbon Projects in the Brazilian Amazon: Practical Guide on Legal Compliance and Socio-Economic Safeguards

The Best Practice Guide for High-Integrity Carbon Publications in the Brazilian Amazon outlines approaches for ensuring the credibility and sustainability of carbon finance publications in line with the region’s ambitious targets and specific context and needs.

As part of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative’s Access Strategies Program, Climate Focus teamed up with the Amazon Investor Coalition (AIC), LACLIMA, and the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force) as well as the governments of Amazonian states Acre and Rondônia to develop the Best Practice Guide.

The guide covers aspects of carbon publication development such as who can implement a carbon publication in Brazil and under which conditions. It also provides guidance for engaging with the Brazilian Emissions Trading System (SBCE) and resolutions of Brazil’s National Commission for REDD+.

In addition, the guide sets out the importance of land rights for the validity of carbon credits and best practices for ensuring free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities as well as the fair and equitable distribution of benefits.

Learn more about the guide and read the full press release: https://vcmintegrity.org/best-practices-high-integrity-carbon-publications-brazilian-amazon/

Read and download the guide in English and Portuguese:

The publication is the latest result of our work as part of VCMI’s Access Strategies Program. We support governments in providing clear steers to investors and publication developers on what best practice looks like in priority sectors where carbon finance can improve climate, nature, and sustainable development outcomes. Earlier this year, for example, Climate Focus produced and published a best practices guide for the government of Yucatan in Mexico. More recently, we helped develop a manual for developing nature-based carbon publications in Eastern Africa for a regional alliance of seven governments in East Africa which was released at the Africa Climate Summit.