Carbon offsetting and REDD

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) has become the dominant international forest policy. Variations of REDD+ include Nature-Based Solutions and corporate pledges to achieve Zero Net Deforestation. In reality, though, deforestation continues, polluting companies use REDD+ offsets to avoid reducing their fossil fuel emissions, and zero-net deforestation pledges allow forests to be cleared in one area as long as an “equivalent” area is restored elsewhere.

Bulletin articles 23 April 2025
Several companies have been expanding their tree plantations in the Colombian Orinoquía, which is increasing longstanding conflicts and violence. “These are not reforestation companies, but deforestation companies, because they have introduced invasive tree species that are not native to the territory – like acacia, eucalyptus and pine trees. So they are driving out what naturally grows here” - Indigenous Sikuani Leader
Bulletin articles 15 December 2024
In the province of East Kalimantan, the World Bank is supporting the Indonesian government’s first jurisdictional REDD programme. International conservationist NGOs, TNC and WWF, have been playing a key role in the preparation and execution of the programme. While they proclaim it to be a “success story” (1), this programme is full of contradictions. Available in Indonesian.
Bulletin articles 24 October 2024
This article tells the story of a Podcast that is being jointly launched with Solidaritas Perumpuan, a feminist organisation from Indonesia. This espisode is the third in the series “Women’s struggles for land”, produced by WRM together with organisations from different countries. This one tells the story of women's resistance to oil palm plantations, REDD and a large-scale project for food production (Food Estate) in three villages in Central Kalimantan.
Bulletin articles 22 August 2024
Colombia's Orinoquía region stretches from the foothills of the country's eastern mountain range to the Venezuelan border. This region has historically been associated with the exploitation of rubber, timber, furs and other so-called “natural resources,” to the detriment of ancestral communities. Today, new threats are emerging under the paradigm of conservation, green energy and carbon projects.
Bulletin articles 27 June 2024
Behind every tree plantation developed for carbon offsets, there are external agents seeking to profit from increased control over the land. And while they all have the same colonial approach, these plantations can vary widely: they can be large-scale monocultures or schemes with smallholder farmers; they can include exotic species or native species; and some of them may even exist on paper only.
Bulletin articles 19 December 2023
President Jokowi calls the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) “the largest green industrial area in the world”. But in reality, there is nothing green about the KIPI. It will lead to massive fossil fuel use, land and water grabbing, while threatening thousands of people in coastal communities with forced eviction. (Available in Indonesian).
Bulletin articles 16 June 2022
More than 10 million hectares in Indonesia are controlled by the pulp and paper industry, mainly by two giant corporations: APP and APRIL. Despite the companies’ commitments to protect forests and peatland, both keep being associated with deforestation, forest fires and to a business model of violence, criminalization and dispossession of forest communities. (Available in Bahasa Indonesia)
Bulletin articles 17 November 2020

How does REDD+ fit into the development agenda in Indonesia? What are the actors involved in promoting REDD+ and with which interests? (Available in Indonesian).

Bulletin articles 24 September 2020

The approval of a road construction inside the first Ecosystem Restoration Concession in Indonesia puts in evidence the inherent contradictions of such concessions. (Available in Indonesian)

Bulletin articles 14 May 2020

Back in 2004, conservation NGOs and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry pioneered with a model called Ecosystem Restoration Concessions. This article takes a closer look at this model in the context of new and old threats to forests, and the global push for “forest restoration”. (Available in Indonesian).

Bulletin articles 5 March 2020

Oil multinational Shell claims that it is possible that consumers drive “carbon neutral”, simply by paying extra for offsetting their emissions - planting trees or investing in existing forest areas elsewhere. But what is happening in those areas elsewhere? (Available in Indonesian).

Bulletin articles 14 May 2019

While the destruction of forest territories continues, more pledges, agreements and programs are being implemented in the name of ‘addressing deforestation and climate change’.