Carbon credit markets are a mechanism for investors in land-based assets to unlock the carbon value from investments in timberland and farmland to help efficiently achieve net zero commitments.
Climate scientists, along with major environmental NGOs, agree that over one-third of the cost-effective, scalable climate mitigation opportunities can come from forests, food and land (e.g., Bastin et al., 2019). These climate mitigation benefits can be realized by investing in nature-based climate solutions (NCS) and offer investors in land-based assets the potential to generate verified carbon credits from their investments. To evaluate investment opportunities in NCS and how carbon can be incorporated into land-based investment strategies, first requires an understanding of global carbon markets. Here we provide an introduction to carbon markets for land-based investments.
Topics discussed
- Overview of carbon crediting mechanisms
- Supply, demand and pricing in carbon markets
- Basic process for generating verified carbon credits from land- based investments
- What this environmental market opportunity means for timberland and farmland investors
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