As momentum builds in the weeks before December’s climate negotiations in Copenhagen, our planets rainforests are firmly in the spotlight with UN backed REDD forestry schemes the driving force behind rainforest conservation.
“We’ve lost over half the forests on the planet, to give you an idea of the speeds they’re going, we lose about the size of 36 football pitches every minute – so that’s pretty fast.” Colin Butfield, head of Campaigns at WWF.
The biggest contributor to global greenhouse gases, the destruction of tropical forests emits more carbon dioxide every year than all the cars, planes, and boats on the planet – between 15 and 20% of global emissions. Its clear to see why conservationists turned economists are being dispatched around the world to work out a forest’s asset value and in turn create a new investment opportunity in the form of carbon credits.
“It is possible to calculate the amount of carbon in a hectare of rainforest to a reasonable amount of precision,”. Colin Butfield. Ground survey data is combined with satellite imagery to calculate the carbon stock, satellite pictures are then used to track the impact of any deforestation to create models for likely deforestation rates. That forest deemed to be under greatest threat that hold the most carbon are then worth the highest net value.
The resultant carbon credits issued for the protection of the trees can be traded on the voluntary carbon market. However most spectators myself included believe that Reduced Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) will be accepted into the CDM in one form or another increasing both the demand and value of forestry stock.
London’s financial centre is the main home to the incipient global carbon market. Prof Heal believes that in a decade, the trade could be worth trillions of dollars and a report out already claims that the value of the market – which doubled in 2008 to £449m consists of carbon credits from offset providers and credits traded in the voluntary Chicago Climate Exchange cap-and-trade scheme.
Commodities traders are not the only ones who are seeing the potential in this new market, Sky Television wants to do its bit too. They have teamed up with the WWF to offer subscribers the chance to donate £10 to the Rainforest Rescue site which will help to protect around 500 trees iAcre Brazil – Sky will match every donation made, up to the value of £2m.
This is an exceptional piece of triple bottom line PR for Sky, they are genuinely doing good by protecting rainforest, they are creating massive PR for both themselves and a topic that is perhaps the most import threat our generation has seen and they are likely to receive a healthy income from the resultant carbon credits created.
It’s this type of model that shows companies can make a difference and a profit at the same time. Not to mention all the social implications of job creation in the area.
REDD is still in its infancy with regard being accepted as a global solution to climate change, this will change rapidly over the coming months and years. Those companies such as Sky acting now will see the benefits of this. If the dot com boom made millionaires of the geeks, it is now time for the conservationist and ecologist to plant themselves firmly on centre stage.
Category : Forestry