Climate Finance Fundamentals 5: Thematic Briefing - REDD+ Finance

Since 2008, over USD 5 billion has been pledged to multilateral climate funds that support efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation plus conservation (REDD+). There is and remains a longstanding interest in the potential to harness market based mechanisms to support REDD+ programmes. Cumulatively, USD 2.4 billion has been approved for dedicated REDD+ activities since 2008. The Amazon Fund with USD 720 million approved for 103 projects in Brazil and the Amazon biome remains the largest dedicated REDD+ fund.

The last five years have seen relatively stable approvals for REDD+, averaging USD 220 million but this has dropped to USD 15 million from dedicated REDD+ funds in 2019. In part, this is because multilateral climate funds are increasingly funding projects that support both adaptation and mitigation, so projects involving forests and land use are not always tagged as ‘REDD+ projects’. The Green Climate Fund (GCF), for example, had approved at least five projects involving forests and land use, that are considering also additional target areas under both adaptation and mitigation, by 2018, with two more such projects approved in 2019. However, the GCF in 2019 also approved four decidated REDD+ projects with results-based payments for a total of USD 229 million under its multi-year REDD+ pilot programme. These projects reflect efforts to support developing countries’ move beyond readiness and capacity building to demonstration programmes and emission reductions with payments based on verified results.