By Reuters Point Carbon

VCS, the largest carbon offset program outside of the U.N. markets, is turning to national governments in its latest effort to drive private investment into projects to reduce emissions from deforestation (REDD), its director said.

VCS announced last week that two Latin America countries, Chile and Costa Rica, will participate in its Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) program, a carbon accounting framework that aims to harmonize forest carbon offsetting guidelines for individual carbon credit-generating projects and national REDD programs under development. This is the first time national governments have joined forces with a voluntary carbon emissions standard to combat forestry emissions, according to VCS.

The JNR will set accounting and crediting frameworks that countries can use as they develop their national REDD programs that would enable existing individual voluntary offset projects to be integrated (nested) into the national scheme and prevent their credits from losing value.

“This initiative should allow governments of countries with tropical forests to generate programs to combat deforestation and get credits for them,” David Antonioli, VCS chief executive officer, told Reuters Point Carbon in an interview.

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