New guide launched during COP30 sets out best practices for high-integrity carbon projects in Brazilian Amazon

Produced with the state governments of Acre and Rondônia, the guide provides the benchmark for developing carbon projects within the region’s unique context.

BELéM, BRAZIL, November 20, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new guide to developing high-integrity carbon projects in the Brazilian Amazon has been launched to support quality nature-based solutions that attract higher prices, generating more finance for forest-based communities.

The Best Practice Guide for High-Integrity Carbon Projects in the Brazilian Amazon outlines approaches for ensuring the credibility and sustainability of carbon finance projects in line with the region’s ambitious targets and specific context and needs.

The guide was developed with the governments of neighbouring Amazonian states, Acre and Rondônia, as part of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative’s Access Strategies Program. Members of the guide’s working group included the Amazon Investor Coalition (AIC), Climate Focus, LACLIMA, and the Governors' Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF Task Force).

Around 60 per cent of the Amazon rainforest lies within Brazil’s borders and plays a fundamental role in both global climate regulation and Brazil’s economy. Recent figures showed that deforestation fell to its lowest level for 11 years last year, with Rondônia and Acre in the top three states for reductions.

According to the World Bank, an estimated $7 billion a year is needed to conserve the Amazon but only $5.81 billion has been mobilized from 2013 to 2022.

“We see enormous potential for carbon finance projects, including REDD+, to deliver much-needed funding for the protection of our globally important forest and those who depend on it,” said Leonardo Carvalho, Secretary of Environment of Acre.

“But it is imperative that these projects are developed in line with state, federal and internationally recognized standards to ensure they have high integrity. This guide is an important resource for both project developers and investors.”

Acre's accounting area covers the entire state, measuring 16.4 million hectares, which includes 7.7 million hectares in conservation units within the Amazon biome. As part of its implementation, Acre established legal and technical procedures to integrate private REDD+ projects and avoid double counting.

Rondônia, meanwhile, has a State Register of Emissions Reductions for registering carbon projects with methodologies approved by the Management Board of the State System of Climate Governance and Environmental Services (SGSA).

“By ensuring carbon projects meet rigorous, consistent, and transparent standards, Amazonian states can attract higher prices and ultimately unlock higher levels of finance,” said Diogo Martins Rosa, Director of Climate Governance, State Secretariat for Environmental Development of Rondônia (SEDAM-RO).

“This new guide ensures those that are entering the market for nature-based solutions in the Brazilian Amazon do so with the fullest understanding of our unique ecosystem.”

The guide covers aspects of carbon project development such as who can implement a carbon project in Brazil and under which conditions. It also provides guidance for engaging with the Brazilian Emissions Trading System (SBCE) and resolutions of Brazil’s National Commission for REDD+.

In addition, the guide sets out the importance of land rights for the validity of carbon credits and best practices for ensuring free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples and Traditional Communities as well as the fair and equitable distribution of benefits.

Ana Carolina Avzaradel Szklo, Technical Director for Markets and Standards at VCMI, which produced the guide in partnership with AIC, said: “High-integrity carbon finance projects can support Amazon states to meet ambitious targets for conservation and sustain thriving forest-based economies and communities.

“This guide shows the importance of high-integrity approaches that reflect the needs and realities of local Amazonian communities. It sets out the vital role that social safeguards and the centering of traditional communities play in environmental preservation. The key principles laid out in the guide will inform investors and developers of carbon finance projects, and can provide a reference point for other Amazon states and countries. The development of high-quality projects, grounded in local context, will attract the investments that are needed to support the conservation and restoration of nature in the Amazon.”

The State Secretariats of Environment of Acre and Rondônia were consulted throughout the drafting process and endorse the guide. Specific recommendations on facilitating access to climate finance for Amazonian states were received from the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCFTF) Secretariat.

The publication follows an increasing trend of governments providing clear steers to investors and project developers on what best practice looks like in priority sectors where they believe carbon finance can improve climate, nature and sustainable development outcomes. Earlier this year, for example, the government of Yucatan in Mexico published a best practices guide, and more recently, at the Africa Climate Summit, a regional alliance of seven governments in East Africa published a manual for developing nature-based carbon projects in Eastern Africa.

Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belém, plays a leading role in carbon markets worldwide. The country accounts for more than a quarter of South America's total carbon credits and approximately six per cent of the global market.

Brazil’s contribution is especially prominent in nature-based solutions (NbS), generating 12 per cent of all global NbS credits and nearly a quarter of those issued regionally. The majority of NbS credits come from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects.

“Providing a clear framework for high-integrity carbon finance projects is fundamental for generating increased demand from buyers and in turn, greater levels of investment,” said Ana Beatriz Freitas, Head of Payments for Environmental Services at the Amazon Investor Coalition (AIC).

“This new guide makes clear the expectations of REDD+ projects and other nature-based solutions, allowing investors to have more confidence in the quality of the market.”

Donna Bowater
Marchmont Communications
donna@marchmontcomms.com

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