The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART): Attracting New Investment to Protect and Restore Forests

ART will provide a credible, independent program overseen by a global Board, and run by a Secretariat. It includes a rigorous Standard to quantify emissions reductions from REDD+ activities at a jurisdictional and national scale, and a comprehensive process to transparently register, verify and issue high quality, serialized credits that are fungible with those from other sectors. ART’s standard, The REDD+ Environmental Excellency Standard (TREES), will be consistent with UNFCCC decisions, including the Warsaw Framework and Cancún Safeguards, with more precise and comprehensive requirements for accounting and crediting; monitoring, reporting and independent verification; mitigation of leakage and reversal risks; avoidance of double counting; robust environmental and social safeguards; and transparent issuance of serialized units on a public registry. Under ART, countries will generate verified emissions reduction credits by reducing their deforestation and degradation emissions below a crediting level and meeting other requirements specified in TREES. Once issued, these serialized credits can be sold into voluntary or compliance markets, can be transferred under the Paris Agreement towards meeting NDCs and increasing ambition, or can be used as a donor pay-for-performance mechanism.