(Washington, D.C.) – A major investment by the Norwegian government will soon allow countries and jurisdictions to scale up their forest conservation and emission reduction efforts by using the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) requirements. Under the terms of the joint agreement, the Norwegian government will invest 8 million Krone (~US$1.4 million) to pilot JNR programs around the world. This investment marks a significant commitment to JNR since the requirements were launched just six months ago.

“In just a few short months, the VCS JNR requirements have been embraced by the global community, and will support the development of REDD+ programs that incentivize forest conservation and carbon reduction at greater scale,” said VCS Chief Executive Officer David Antonioli. “The challenges of the climate crisis and tropical forest loss are real. We are honored to have the support of the Norwegian government in this effort as this will be a shining example of one of the ways governments around the world can address climate change through performance-based efforts like JNR.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the Norwegian government will fund a national level JNR pilot program in Costa Rica, as well as subnational programs in Brazil (Acre), Peru (Madre de Dios, San Martín), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Mai Ndombe). The VCS regional office in Santiago, Chile, as well as new VCS Brazil Director Sandro Marostica (based in São Paulo), will play key roles in the launching of the pilot programs.

“By tapping the VCS JNR framework, pilot programs will be able to link the development of national and subnational REDD+ policies and measures and establish a pathway for producing high-quality verified emission reductions,” said Mr. Antonioli. “This will generate valuable lessons for other host governments and international policymakers, and result in new financing for REDD+ that leverages existing and emerging results-based funding mechanisms and investment. This increasing confidence within the market and among donors will eventually drive emissions reductions, generating positive benefits for local and indigenous communities.”

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Founded in 2005 by the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association, the World Economic Forum, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Verified Carbon Standard has become one of the world’s most widely used carbon accounting standards. VCS has revolutionized the market developing trusted and innovative tools, as well as pioneering efforts to develop standardized methods that will streamline the project approval process, reduce transaction costs and enhance transparency. Across the world, projects using the VCS Standard have issued more than 118 million credits.