Costa Rica’s Forest Conservation Pays Off

STORY HIGHLIGHTS World-Bank-Climate-Funds-Management-Unit-48050851712-db2b2023b6-b

  • Costa Rica has become the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to receive payments from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation—commonly known as REDD+.
  • This first payment – of $16.4 million for independently verified emission reductions — is a milestone for Costa Rica.
  • Results-based climate finance such as payments for emission reductions increasingly is being used to incentivize climate action and help countries achieve their Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement.

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Countries Could Cut Emissions by 70% by 2050 and Boost Resilience with Annual Investments of 1.4% of GDP

What You Need to Know About the Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) of Carbon Credits

A wide array of programs and markets around the world offer to deliver, buy, and sell  emissions reduction credits (ERCs) —commonly known as carbon credits—with mixed reactions and results. How can buyers know that the carbon credits they purchase are real? And how does the World Bank ensure that its emission reductions programs are fully inclusive and benefit the people and communities participating in them? We asked Andres Espejo, Senior Carbon Finance Specialist in the World Bank’s Climate Change Fund Management Unit, to explain the role of Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) in calculating carbon credits.

What is MRV and why is MRV important to mitigation efforts?Climate-Explainer-Series-banner-with-WBG-COP27-branding

Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) refers to the multi-step process to measure the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduced by a specific mitigation activity, such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, over a period of time and report these findings to an accredited third party. The third party then verifies the report so that the results can be certified and carbon credits can be issued.

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We won’t reach our climate goals without cleaner mobility

No scenario to contain global warming is possible without urgent and distinct action in thebr-vlt rio de janeiro=-wri brasil flickr transport sector.  This is a sector that is often overlooked in the climate equation, but it shouldn’t be. Currently responsible for 20% of global GHG emissions and rapidly increasing, transport is something that impacts everyone, everywhere.

The good news is that the tools needed to curb emissions from transport already exist. Some of them – such as enhanced public transport options, active mobility, zero-emission vehicles, and green fuels – are being implemented in many countries. Global sales of electric cars doubled between 2020 and 2021, reaching 6.6 million vehicles, nearly 9% of the global auto market.

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Zero-carbon shipping: A sea of opportunities for developing countries

The obstruction of the Suez Canal earlier this year served as a vivid reminder of the importance1195772839_e3ce0cc64a_c_2 of maritime transport for economies around the globe. The blockage was resolved within a matter of days, but a much more existential challenge remains for the shipping industry.

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eC2: Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Market Studies

Deadline: 07-Oct-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) agriculture-youth

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is an approach aimed at increasing farm productivity sustainably, taking into consideration climate change concerns and impacts. More specifically, the World Bank defines Climate-Smart Agriculture as an approach to managing landscapescropland, livestock, forests and fisheriesthat aims to achieve three wins: (1) Increased productivity to improve food security and boost farmers incomes; (2) Enhanced resilience to drought, pests, disease and other shocks; (3) Reduced GHG emissions. IFCs Strategy is to contribute to CSA by providing investments and advisory operations that contribute to the three pillars of CSA. To adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, farmers need access to sufficient and adequate finance and skills to rightly use finance.  In line with the aforementioned, IFC is looking for a consulting firm to conduct agricultural supply chain mapping and market studies of CSA technologies and practices to support financial institutions to increase lending for CSA in three target countries.

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eC2: Estimating GHG Impact from Food Losses

Deadline: 23-Sep-2019 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time – Washington D.C.) food_waste_garbage

IFC developed an easy to use excel based tool/calculator that that can quickly and conservatively estimate the GHG emissions associated with wasting a ton of agricultural produce. The purpose of this task is to further develop this platform by adding more countries, more crops, and a baseline for crop losses in the different developing countries under consideration. This can help identify and promote investments that would reduce agricultural food losses and associated GHG emissions.

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Moving toward green mobility: three countries, three different paths

As discussions concluded at COP24, countries still struggle to translate their climate lu-local-bus-franz_bous-flickrcommitments into effective and socially acceptable actions. This sense of stagnation is particularly evident in transport. With 23% of energy-related GHG emissions coming from the sector, transitioning to greener mobility will be crucial to the overall success of the climate agenda. Yet the world remains largely reliant on fossil fuels to move people and goods from A to B. As shown in Sustainable Mobility for All’s Global Roadmap of Action, there are multiple policy options that could help countries move the needle on green mobility, each with their own fiscal and political costs. To illustrate this, let’s look at three countries that did take concrete measures to cut carbon emissions from transport but opted for three different options: France, Luxembourg, and Norway.

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GIF: making climate-smart infrastructure bankable

gif_card_1There are many drivers of climate change, but few would disagree that energy infrastructure built according to “business-as-usual” standards is a major one. Meeting the lofty goals set at the 2015 Paris Climate Accords requires powering our homes, businesses, and government agencies with a cleaner mix of energy that includes more renewable sources. It also requires promoting standards that encourage energy efficiency—for example, for appliances or building codes—as a low-cost and high-impact way to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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