Winrock joins consortium to help mobilize finance to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
Winrock has joined a consortium led by Ricardo that will deliver the UK Technical Assistance Programme for LEAF, aimed at helping governments mobilize finance for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation: a major global driver of climate change.
Ricardo, a global strategic environmental and engineering consulting company, is leading the consortium, which will deliver the two-year, 5 million GBP program to support national and sub-national governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America to access finance to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and additional forest-related activities that protect the climate (REDD+).
The UK Technical Assistance Programme for Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF), funded by the UK Government’s Department for Energy Strategy and Net Zero, will be delivered by specialists from Ricardo with partners Winrock International and Climate Law & Policy, both of which bring nearly two decades of experience in jurisdictional REDD+.
Ricardo announced the new consortium on its website.
The UK Technical Assistance Programme for LEAF is supporting governments of forested countries or states to secure finance for slowing, halting and reversing forest loss.
“Finance will be provided by the voluntary, global LEAF Coalition, which brings together the private sector and governments to provide finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation through carbon markets,” the announcement said. “It is supported by the governments of the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States, as well as over 25 major companies including Amazon, Airbnb, Walmart and GSK. The LEAF Coalition was announced at COP26 in Glasgow, UK in 2021, and to date, it has mobilised over 1 billion USD in finance to support governments of forested jurisdictions in making substantial reductions in their emissions from deforestation.
“Through the LEAF Coalition, national and sub-national governments will receive payments for validated and verified carbon credits,” the announcement said. “The credits will be issued by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions and must adhere to the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (TREES), a high integrity approach that guarantees robust results in terms of carbon, social and biodiversity safeguards.”
Katie Goslee, Winrock’s director for nature-based solutions and technical lead for the Programme, said: “It is imperative that countries are supported in taking the next step towards results-based payments for addressing deforestation. The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions provides a rigorous standard that ensures actions lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and the LEAF Coalition provides a vehicle for enabling payments to jurisdictions. The UK Technical Assistance Programme for LEAF will provide needed support in enabling countries to meet the requirements of both ART and LEAF to ensure climate benefit and receive needed financing.”
Read the full Ricardo announcement here.
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