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Denmark plans to convert 15% of its farmland — which makes up two thirds of its territory — into forest and natural habitats to cut down on fertilizer use, Reuters reports. In motion since the summer, the plans come as the intensively farmed country moves to address oxygen depletion in its waters and marine life harm caused by the runoff of fertilizer from lowlands.
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How will they do it? Denmark plans to plant one bn trees on farmland and has earmarked USD 6.1 bn to buy land back from farmers over the next 20 years. The country also plans to impose a climate tax to push farmers to cut their fertilizers’ use to reduce the potent nitrogen emissions, making the country the first to implement such a tax on agriculture.
Indonesia to receive EUR 1.2 bn from KfW for green sector: Germany’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) will extend EUR 1.2 bn in green financing for Indonesia to boost hydroelectric and renewable power transmission systems, Indonesia Business Post reports. The agreement — signed on the sidelines of COP29 — will funnel investments towards green energy projects in a bid to boost the country’s renewable capacity by 75 GW over the next 15 years, according to a statement released last week.
REDD+ approves three deforestation types as carbon offsets: The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) — a global standard setter and governance body — has approved three new types of REDD+ credits, Reuters reported on Friday. The new types are based on new methodologies ICVCM said would raise the integrity of the credits that have long come under scrutiny.
What are REDD+ credits? REDD+ is a term denoting “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries,” whereas the + sign denotes other forest-related conservation activities, according to the UNFCCC. REDD+ credits is used to describe forest-linked carbon offsets, which are basically credits created when an investor claims the offset of one ton of CO2 emissions by investing in reforestation or conservation.
How are the new REDD+ credits different? The key is in the methodology used for certification. Two of the new credits have methodologies that adopt “jurisdictional approaches.” These jurisdictional approaches expect the projects to be linked to national or regional-level policies on forestry and climate. The remaining new credit type still adopts a project-based methodology for certification, but it no longer allows developers to set their own baselines. Instead, regional data and risk assessments would be used to establish the baseline that measures a project’s success in achieving its claims of reducing emissions, according to Edie.
ON A RELATED NOTES- Shell wants to offload carbon offsets project: Shell is planning to sell a stake in its nature-based carbon projects amid a market contraction and price drop for emissions offsets, Bloomberg reported last week. Shell’s portfolio, launched in 2018, includes dozens of projects generating REDD+ credits, which have faced scrutiny for overstating their impacts. The company is currently considering retaining a minority stake and is exploring options with potential investors, including private equity firms.
Shell is downsizing their climate efforts: A Dutch appeals court overturned a 2021 ruling that mandated energy giant Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. The court acknowledged Shell’s duty to limit emissions but found insufficient consensus in climate science to enforce a specific reduction percentage.
But companies still have a responsibility: Shell’s recent victory in a Dutch appeal court may not deter future strategic litigation against corporations, The Guardian reported, citing several legal experts last week. The decision emphasized that companies have a duty to reduce emissions in line with the Paris climate agreement, said lawyer Roger Cox. Furthermore, clear sector-based mandates, such as those expected in the EU soon, are are set to raise the legal pressure on private companies, professor Joana Setzer of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change told The Guardian.
