FAQ
WHY DOES THE SCENE COALITION FOCUS ON NBS FOR CLIMATE?
Importance of Forests / NbS / Nature for Climate
Forests are capable of providing 23% of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed to achieve a <2oC pathway by 2030.
However, rapid scale deforestation throughout Southeast Asia continues, often in some of the most biodiverse rich forests that local communities rely upon, leading to high GHG emissions.
Amid the climate and biodiversity crises, NbS is therefore a critical sector to focus on to achieve our global climate ambitions; investments in NbS are some of the most immediate actions we can take to stabilize our climate.
NbS can also deliver meaningful outcomes for local communities and biodiversity if properly designed and implemented. Triple benefit NbS also ensures the long-term viability of NbS.
WHY IS THE SCENE COALITION FOCUSING ON ACCESSING CARBON MARKETS FOR NBS?
Financing gap for NbS climate mitigation
Forests only represent 3% of current climate mitigation finance. Inadequate finance to protect these areas is a primary reason for their loss.
IPCC estimates that $90 trillion in investments over the next 15 years are required to meet the international community’s climate goals.
This gap cannot be reached only through public budgetary resources; private capital will have to play a role.
Carbon markets play an important role in meeting demand for carbon credits at the government (NDCs) and industry levels (Climate, Net-Zero commitments) and directing investment towards NbS.
Carbon markets as one of many tools needed.
Carbon markets are not a panacea and must be seen as one of many tools to achieve the urgent emissions reductions required across our global economy.
The urgency and scale of the climate and biodiversity crises require that we apply and work to support the effectiveness of all available tools in our arsenal to halt biodiversity loss and reduce emissions.
Carbon markets are predicted to grow significantly (include estimate); it is imperative that this growth goes to high quality investments that deliver across climate, biodiversity and social outcomes.
Carbon markets have been particularly effective at deploying private capital to reduce harmful emissions through forest conservation, directly benefiting local actors on-the-ground.
To date, REDD+ projects within the voluntary carbon market have been some of the most effective at leveraging private capital in the service of forest conservation.
Private capital delivered through carbon markets is deployed directly in the service of forest conservation, biodiversity protection, and the safeguarding the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.
REDD+ projects exist as one of the most sizeable and direct market-based methods to preserve our remaining, valuable forest ecosystems and to deliver finance to local communities safeguarding biodiversity on the ground.
HOW DOES THE SCENE COALITION RESPOND TO RECENT CRITICISMS OF THE CARBON MARKETS?
The SCeNe Coalition recognizes recent criticisms of the voluntary carbon markets and the claims of over-crediting from REDD+ projects.
The SCeNe Coalition recognizes that a range of quality currently exists in the market, including high-quality projects that deliver across climate, communities and biodiversity. It is important to continuously identify, promote and learn from existing projects in order to help raise the bar over time.
The SCeNe Coalition believes there is value in the iterative improvement of the standards and GHG accounting approaches, and in building skills and capacity across all market actors and institutions to continuously aim for higher quality.
The SCeNe Coalition is supportive of processes to iteratively review and improve existing carbon standards, methodologies and guidance to integrate new science, technological advances and best-practice approaches in the service of a market with higher integrity and higher quality. This includes initiatives such as Verra’s revision of its REDD methodologies, the work of the IC-VCM on its Core Carbon Principles and the guidance from initiatives such as the NCSA.
This is especially important for newly established markets, such as the carbon markets, as they evolve and continue to develop.
WHAT DOES THE SCENE COALITION MEAN BY “HIGH QUALITY” NBS?
High quality means the delivery of verified outcomes across climate, community and biodiversity dimensions based on fit-for-purpose indicators, rigorous monitoring protocols, and clear attribution to project actions.
Much attention is currently being placed on the certitude of emission reduction claims, and the Coalition believes equal focus should be placed on iteratively reviewing and improving the requirements for high-integrity and high-quality claims on biodiversity and social outcomes. We believe we are uniquely placed to inform and influence the market on this.
WHY IS THE SCENE COALITION WELL-PLACED TO INFORM THE MARKET ON “HIGH QUALITY” NBS?
We are pooling decades of on-the-ground project development experience in the service of locally-led conservation and the development of capacity for reliable monitoring, reporting and verification of its impacts
We have a wealth of shared experience on what constitutes effective and equitable conservation to help market participants understand what it takes (and what it costs) to deliver credible and transparent outcomes for biodiversity and local people, alongside emissions reductions.
We are doing research and participating in global dialogues and initiatives to continually improve transparency and integrity of nature-based carbon credits at all points on the carbon value chain.
We are focusing on carbon markets in order to improve this promising financing vehicle for climate, conservation and local communities in Southeast Asia, through our collective engagement to raise standards across the market.
We are supporting the inclusion of high-quality NbS in existing and emerging high-integrity compliance market mechanisms such as CORSIA and Article 6 to continue to raise the bar for quality NbS.
WHAT IS THE SCENE COALITION’S POSITION ON DEMAND-SIDE INTEGRITY?
The transition to a lower intensity carbon economy requires all sectors of our global economy to adopt new modes of delivering products and services. Achieving a <2C pathway by 2030 cannot be achieved through investments into NbS alone.
The Coalition believes all companies should set publicly announced net-zero targets and demonstrate and publicly disclose their progress towards these targets via the climate mitigation hierarchy.
Offsets cannot be a company’s only approach to achieving their net-zero target.
We should note, however, that the SCeNe Coalition’s does not intend to verify or confirm the validity of corporate claims; this is best left to organizations and initiatives focused exclusively on this.