Forest Carbon Finance Summit 2010:

Building the Global Financial Architecture for REDD+

February 25-27 World Wildlife Fund Offices & The Fairmont Hotel Washington, D.C.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), in conjunction with the Program on International Financial Systems the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University, are pleased to announce that the second annual Forest Carbon Finance Summit: Building the Global Financial Architecture of REDD+ will be held from February 25-27, 2010 in Washington, D.C.  

Based on the success of FCFS 2009: Making Forest Carbon Markets Work, sixty to eighty thought leaders from the forest carbon finance field will gather in Washington, D.C. for two and a half days of intense discussions intended to move the conversation on REDD+ from a conceptual level to a practical one.  The invitation-only event draws together senior executives, legal and financial leaders, policy experts, and investors, to participate in a charrette designed to address real issues and pose practical solutions.

As the world continues to grapple with alternative solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the urgency and importance of integrating forests and land use into the new climate policy frameworks has never been more apparent.  Central to this discussion is whether and how the carbon markets can be used to channel the required sums of capital to the forest countries to enable and encourage these countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.  

Participants will discuss the merits of the various carbon accounting frameworks, practical experiences from the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation mechanism, necessary infrastructure  requirements to make forest carbon markets work and ways to achieve market system integrity for permanent and real carbon reduction with effective protection of social and environmental values, with due regard for national sovereignty.

The Summit will take place in the wake of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen and will afford participants the opportunity to shape policy and implementation under the new climate regime.  Consequently, the Summit organizers have planned for panels on three topics that will be formulated as a result of the Copenhagen treaty.  Expert panelists will have an opportunity to share their world perspective and frame the discussion.  

FCFS2009: Making Forest Carbon Markets Work

March 6-8, 2009 World Wildlife Fund Offices & The Fairmont Hotel Washington, DC

PIFS, The World Wildlife Fund and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions jointly sponsored the inaugural Forest Carbon Finance Summit 2009 in Washington, DC. The Summit drew together seventy senior executives, policy experts, investors, as well as legal and financial leaders in an “off the record” offsite meeting to enable frank engagement on whether and how the carbon markets can be useful to channel the required sums of capital to the forest countries to enable and encourage those countries to reduce emissions from deforestation. 

Discussions addressed the following questions:

How can forest carbon become compliance carbon used to meet emission reduction obligations? How to establish forest carbon transactions within national and subnational accounting frameworks? What lessons learned from CDM and JI and voluntary markets can be instructive to establish compliance forest carbon?

What infrastructure requirements, carbon registries, exchange platforms, legal and institutional frameworks are critical to make markets work and make the carbon results credible and real?

How can a market system achieve integrity: permanent real carbon reduction and effective protection of social and environmental values, with due regard for national sovereignty?

The Summit was held at the Fairmont Hotel and World Wildlife Fund Conference Facilities in Washington, D.C. The Summit began on Friday evening, March 6 with a keynote address from His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana.  His Excellency The Honourable Robert Hill, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations addressed the participants on Saturday, March 7th.  

The Summit’s timing, as well as the importance of the participants’ viewpoints, can provide the basis for informed negotiations as the world moves toward a future climate change agreement at the 2010 UN Climate conference in Copenhagen where the future role of forest carbon in global climate policy will be decided.

FCFS 2009 white papers, participant concept papers, and background materials are available below.

Symposium Materials
Agenda
Participants
Final Plenary PPT Presentation
Final Report

Commissioned Papers for FCFS 2009

1. Contractual Arrangements for the Implementation of Forest Carbon Schemes with Emphasis on REDD Schemes in Peru: Legal and Institutional Considerations
   José Luis Capella, SPDA
2. The Interminable Politics of Forest Carbon: an EU Outlook
   Alex Bozmoski and Cameron Hepburn, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford
3. Including Reduced Emissions from International Forest Carbon in Climate Policy: Understanding the Economics
   Brian Murray (lead), Nicholas Institute, Duke University; Ruben Lubowski, Environmental Defense Fund; and Brent Sohngen, Ohio State University
4. Driving Private Capital to Conserve Tropical Forests: Current Frameworks & Policy Ideas
   John O. Niles, Director, Tropical Forest Group
5. Forests and Climate: The Crucial Role of Forest Carbon in Combating Climate Change
   Lydia Olander, Nicholas Institute, Duke University (coordinating), and (in alphabetical order) William Boyd, University of Colorado Law School; Kathleen Lawlor, Nicholas Institute; Erin Myers Madeira, Resources for the Future; and John O. Niles, Tropical Forest Group. Erin Myers Madeira is the primary author of the introduction.

Participant Concept Papers

1. Avoided Deforestation as a GHG Mitigation Compliance Activity
   Pedro Moura Costa, EcoSecurities Group Plc
2. Compensation for Carbon Stock Maintenance in Forests as an Alternative to Avoiding Carbon Flows
   Pedro Moura Costa, EcoSecurities Group Plc
3.  Ensuring Integrity in Forest Carbon Markets: A Concept Note
   Hosny El-Lakany, University of British Columbia
4. Reflections of a Summit Organizer: Overview of the Discussion About Forest Carbon Markets
   Don Kanak

Additional Suggested Materials

1. Moving Ahead With REDD: Issues, Options, and Implications
   Published by Center for International Forestry Research(CIFOR), Arlid Angelsen, Editor
2. Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy
   McKinsey & Company