tropical forests

Misusing Carbon Removal as a Climate Response

Carbon removal is an alluring idea. That also makes it a tempting façade for bad policies.

It seems clear that in some form, carbon removal is going to be an important component of climate policy, especially later in the century to deal with carbon levels that overshoot the targets in the Paris Climate Agreement. The problem is not with the concept but with its misuse.    One of the risks that …

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Climate Policy in the World’s Fourth Largest Country

In case you’re wondering, that would be Indonesia in terms of population.

Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest population, right after India, China, and the U.S. It has about the same GDP as Spain. Indonesia ranks in the top dozen carbon emitters. It gets relatively attention in the United States. Yet Indonesia’s role in cutting energy emissions is crucial. As an archipelago, Indonesia is at the prey …

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Amazon Deforestation is Down. Here’s Why.

Elections, new government policies at the national and sub-national level, increased law enforcement, and technological advancements have contributed to climate gains in Brazil, Ecuador and beyond.

For several years, headlines about Amazon deforestation have all been bad. But in 2023 the script has been flipped and the good news keeps on coming. Good news in Brazil where deforestation in the Amazon declined 66.1 percent compared to last August. It’s the lowest level for the month of August since 2018 and it …

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Governors Launch Action Plan to Reduce Deforestation and Improve Lives in Forested Regions

Wilson Lima, Governor of Amazonas and chair of the GCF Task Force 12th Annual Meeting, introduces the Manaus Action Plan alongside other governors and high-level representatives. Photo credit: GCF Task Force

Manaus Action Plan for a New Forest Economy advances ambitious action at Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force 12th Annual Meeting hosted by state of Amazonas

For more than a decade of leadership and innovation, member states and provinces of the Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Task Force have been developing strategies, programs, investment plans, and new legal structures to address tropical deforestation, embark on a low-emissions development path, and benefit their populations and the climate. These governments have developed jurisdiction-specific, …

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Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force Kicks Off Annual Meeting in Heart of the Amazon Basin

The Amazon and Rio Negro rivers meet in Manaus, Brazil

12th Annual Meeting of GCF Task Force hosted by Governor of Amazonas in Manaus, Brazil, March 15-18, 2022

This week, on the banks of the largest river system in the world, Governors, environment secretaries and civil servants, Indigenous peoples and local community leaders, national governments, the private sector, and partner organizations will be meeting to discuss innovative partnerships and solutions to the threat of tropical deforestation at the 12th Annual Meeting of the …

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Jason Gray Joins the Emmett Institute as Project Director, Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force

Jason Gray

Climate policy expert brings regulatory expertise to project focused on tropical deforestation and low-emissions development

This month, the Emmett Institute is excited to welcome climate policy expert Jason Gray as the newest member of our team. In his new role as Project Director of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, Jason will help direct a major sub-national coalition focused on reducing tropical deforestation and advancing inclusive, equitable, low-emissions development …

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Climate and Colonialism: Some Columbus Day Thoughts

Is climate change itself a form of colonialism?

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” That’s what we learned in my grade school. Today, Columbus Day remains a day of celebration for some but has become a symbols of colonialism for others. Rather than entering that debate, I’d like to reflect on how issues of colonialism might relate to climate change. The study …

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Deforestation and the Climate Crisis in a Time of Pandemic

Forest fire via NASA Earth Observatory

Despite the pandemic-induced global economic contraction, deforestation increased last year, with significant increases in the destruction of primary tropical forests.

  Earlier this week, the World Resources Institute released its first assessment of global forest loss for 2020, offering a chance to take stock of what happened to the world’s forests during the pandemic.  The news is not good. Despite a shrinking global economy, deforestation increased around the world in 2020. In temperate regions, some …

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(Still More) Bad News on the Doorstep

New Reports Document Accelerating Wildlife Extinctions, Global Deforestation Trends

While public attention in recent weeks and months has understandably focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial justice shockwaves triggered by George Floyd’s tragic death, another disaster continues apace. This week the New York Times published two alarming stories documenting the accelerating decline of our global environment.  The first, entitled “Extinctions Are Accelerating, Threatening …

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A Global Standard for a Global Problem

Emmett Institute Submits Comment in Support of CARB’s Proposed Tropical Forest Standard

The Emmett Institute submitted a comment to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) yesterday in support of its proposed Tropical Forest Standard (“Standard”).  If approved, this Standard would provide CARB a set of criteria to follow when determining whether to trade tropical forest offsets between California’s Cap and Trade Program and a foreign emissions trading …

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