LEAF coalition

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At the recently concluded Leaders’ Summit on Climate, the LEAF coalition came up with a $1 billion fund plan that shall be offered to countries committed to arrest the decline of their tropical forests by 2030.

About Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition

The LEAF Coalition was launched on April 22nd by an initial group of governments and leading companies.
LEAF is a collective of the United States, United Kingdom, Norway governments & others
The coalition aims to mobilize at least $1 billion in financing, kicking off what is expected to become one of the largest ever public-private efforts to protect tropical forests.
It would also be to the benefit of billions of people depending on them, and to support sustainable development.
LEAF was supported by transnational corporations (TNCs) like Unilever plc, Amazon.com, Inc, Nestle, Airbnb, Inc as well as Emergent, a US-based non-profit.
The LEAF coalition initiative is a step towards concretising the aims and objectives of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism.

REDD+

REDD+ was created by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
It monetised the value of carbon locked up in the tropical forests of most developing countries, thereby propelling these countries to help mitigate climate change.
According to the UN-REDD programme, after the energy sector, deforestation accounts for massive carbon emissions close to 11 per cent in the atmosphere.

A country willing to participate would need to fulfil certain predetermined conditions laid down by the Coalition.
It is a unique initiative as it seeks to help developing countries in battling the double-edged sword of development versus ecological commitment.
Emergent, a US non-profit, is providing a platform to facilitate the transactions to provide finance to these programs, and will serve as LEAF’s administrative coordinator.
Performance will be measured against the TREES standard.
TREES is a high-integrity standard building on over a decade of progress in international support for reducing deforestation and ensuring social and environmental integrity.
TREES is managed by ART, a voluntary global initiative hosted by Winrock International.
ART also maintains the registry on which Emissions Reductions are issued, transferred and retired.
ART will issue verified Emissions Reductions (called “TREES credits” under the TREES standard) to participating jurisdictions that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Each of these represent one tonne of CO2.
Companies are invited to participate in the LEAF Coalition by purchasing high-quality emissions reductions as part of broader voluntary commitments to global climate action.

Role of LEAF protecting forests

The initiative comes at a crucial time.
The tropics have lost close to 12.2 million hectares (mha) of tree cover year last year according to global estimates released by Global Forest Watch, an independent monitoring platform.
Of this, a loss of 4.2 mha occurred within humid tropical primary forests alone.
Most of these lost forests were located in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and South Asia.
Brazil has fared dismally on the parameter of ‘annual primary forest loss’(1.7mha) among all countries.
India’s estimated loss in 2020 stands at 20.8 kilo hectares.
Between 2002-2020, Brazil’s total area of humid primary forest reduced by 7.7 per cent while India’s reduced by 3.4 per cent.
Such a financial impetus by LEAF is crucial as it incentivises developing countries to capture extensive deforestation and provide livelihood opportunities to forest-dependent populations
Implementation of the LEAF Coalition plan will help pump in fresh rigour among developing countries.
The LEAF Coalition can help reverse the trend by providing unprecedented financial support to tropical forest governments implementing forest protection, contributing to green and resilient growth through sustainable investments.
The LEAF Coalition empowers tropical and subtropical forest countries to move more rapidly towards ending deforestation, while supporting them in achieving their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
Reductions in emissions are made across entire countries or large states and provinces (“jurisdictions”) through programs that involve all key stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples and local communities.