Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation
Carbon offsets from voluntary avoided-deforestation projects are generated on the basis of performance in relation to ex ante deforestation baselines. We examined the effects of 26 such project sites in six countries on three continents using synthetic control methods for causal inference. We found...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/135558 |
| _version_ | 1855514797541425152 |
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| author | West, T.A.P. Wunder, Sven Sills, E.O. Börner, J. Rifai, S.W. Neidermeier, A.N. Kontoleon, A. |
| author_browse | Börner, J. Kontoleon, A. Neidermeier, A.N. Rifai, S.W. Sills, E.O. West, T.A.P. Wunder, Sven |
| author_facet | West, T.A.P. Wunder, Sven Sills, E.O. Börner, J. Rifai, S.W. Neidermeier, A.N. Kontoleon, A. |
| author_sort | West, T.A.P. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Carbon offsets from voluntary avoided-deforestation projects are generated on the basis of performance in relation to ex ante deforestation baselines. We examined the effects of 26 such project sites in six countries on three continents using synthetic control methods for causal inference. We found that most projects have not significantly reduced deforestation. For projects that did, reductions were substantially lower than claimed. This reflects differences between the project ex ante baselines and ex post counterfactuals according to observed deforestation in control areas. Methodologies used to construct deforestation baselines for carbon offset interventions need urgent revisions to correctly attribute reduced deforestation to the projects, thus maintaining both incentives for forest conservation and the integrity of global carbon accounting. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace135558 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| publisherStr | American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1355582025-10-26T13:02:06Z Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation West, T.A.P. Wunder, Sven Sills, E.O. Börner, J. Rifai, S.W. Neidermeier, A.N. Kontoleon, A. tropical forests climate change mitigation conservation Carbon offsets from voluntary avoided-deforestation projects are generated on the basis of performance in relation to ex ante deforestation baselines. We examined the effects of 26 such project sites in six countries on three continents using synthetic control methods for causal inference. We found that most projects have not significantly reduced deforestation. For projects that did, reductions were substantially lower than claimed. This reflects differences between the project ex ante baselines and ex post counterfactuals according to observed deforestation in control areas. Methodologies used to construct deforestation baselines for carbon offset interventions need urgent revisions to correctly attribute reduced deforestation to the projects, thus maintaining both incentives for forest conservation and the integrity of global carbon accounting. 2023-08-25 2023-12-19T04:19:13Z 2023-12-19T04:19:13Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/135558 en Limited Access American Association for the Advancement of Science West, T. A., Wunder, S., Sills, E. O., Börner, J., Rifai, S. W., Neidermeier, A. N., … Kontoleon, A. (2023). Science, 381(6660), 873–877. doi:10.1126/science.ade3535 |
| spellingShingle | tropical forests climate change mitigation conservation West, T.A.P. Wunder, Sven Sills, E.O. Börner, J. Rifai, S.W. Neidermeier, A.N. Kontoleon, A. Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title | Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title_full | Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title_fullStr | Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title_short | Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| title_sort | action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation |
| topic | tropical forests climate change mitigation conservation |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/135558 |
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