During the World Bank’s recent Annual Meetings in Marrakech, President Ajay Banga presented the Bank's new vision and mission, Ending Poverty on a Livable Planet, along with a roadmap to achieve it. In the roadmap, climate change continues to be a critical priority for the Bank.

At the Annual Meetings, as well as at recent high-profile events in New York City, Banga underscored that forestry programs deliver high-quality carbon credits and support REDD+ readiness for countries to access carbon markets. He highlighted how World Bank programs such as the FCPF are paving the way for countries to monetize excess emission reductions through voluntary markets.

The World Bank has recently organized workshops with Indonesia and Vietnam to explore monetizing their FCPF credits in carbon markets, including through an auction that could be announced at COP28.

Watch Ajay Banga’s Plenary Speech at the World Bank Annual Meetings

Read Ajay Banga’s remarks at the David A. Morse Lecture at the Council on Foreign Relations

The ISFL supported a recent South-South knowledge exchange between Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Indonesia on a range of topics related to building successful large-scale sustainable landscape programs. The exchange also aimed to strengthen professional ties among the three countries at national and sub-national levels.

Brazil, the DRC, and Indonesia share the challenge of reconciling economic growth in agriculture, timber, mining, and urban development, with protection of their forests and the services they deliver. This World Bank facilitated knowledge exchange gave the three countries the opportunity to share experiences and key lessons learned in their efforts to reduce deforestation.

Upon completing the knowledge exchange, the countries agreed to continue discussions on common positions related to critical topics including forest carbon markets.

Read more

In October, the ISFL launched an interactive e-course entitled “Integrated Land-Use Initiatives: In Theory and In Practice”, which is free to access and open to all on the World Bank’s Open Learning Campus.  

Based on ISFL’s Guide to Integrated Land-Use Initiatives, and building on the World Bank’s "Landscapes 101 course", this new integrated land use e-course covers the eight main themes discussed in the Guide and highlights cross-cutting themes such as social inclusion and adaptive management.

The course is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ISFL and the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN).   

Read more & sign up

The 2023 FCPF annual report spotlights the groundbreaking emission reductions payments made over the past year to Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, and the Lao PDR.

Combined with Mozambique’s emission reductions payments to date, Carbon Fund results-based payments now total $53.2 million, with that number expected to increase to at least $300 million in the coming year.

"These achievements prove that the REDD+ concept works," writes FCPF Fund Manager, Andres Espejo.

He adds, "They show that countries are closer to accessing additional revenue streams from carbon finance. Carbon Fund achievements give hope that the REDD+ mechanism can be a solution to the increasing challenges the world is facing."

Download the report

The 2023 ISFL annual report highlights the advancements of its country programs in Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico, and Zambia, including the signing of the Fund’s first Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with Ethiopia in February 2023.

“This first ERPA signature with Ethiopia is just the beginning,” writes ISFL Fund Manager, Roy Parizat.

“The remaining four ISFL country programs are all nearing the completion of their preparatory work… they have designed and are implementing activities to reduce emissions from multiple land uses... and they are on track to sign ERPAs of their own in the coming year.”

Download the report

This recent World Bank Climate Feature Story highlights the inroads made by the FCPF's long-standing Capacity Building Program for Indigenous Peoples and Civil Society.

Since 2009, $15 million in FCPF grants to more than 90 organizations in 37 countries have helped advance Indigenous peoples' access to, and decision-making over, the management of forest ecosystems and the use of results-based finance from forest conservation efforts.

Read more

If you missed the FCPF’s webinar for independent validation and verification bodies and accreditation bodies operating in the carbon market, resources from the event are now available on the FCPF website.

The webinar, entitled “The Validation and Verification Process for FCPF Programs”, introduced participants to the “FCPF Standard”, the validation and verification process, and the World Bank procurement system, along with the FCPF’s portfolio of programs that need to be validated and verified until 2025.

The aim of the webinar was to engage with these entities to help build their capacities to comply with the requirements and expertise needed to understand and accurately assess jurisdictional REDD+ programs. 

Learn more

The World Bank’s trust fund Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) recently launched an e-learning course on the “Fundamentals of EnABLE Project Management”.

This free course, available on the World Bank’s Open Learning Campus (OLC), is designed to enhance the capacities of Indigenous peoples and civil society organizations to receive and manage grant resources from the EnABLE trust fund. 

First-time user of the World Bank's Open Learning Campus are invited to create a new account before accessing EnABLE’s e-course modules.

Click here for instructions on how to open a new OLC account.

Read EnABLE's October 2023 newsletter

Download EnABLE's 2023 Annual Report

Reduce emissions by accelerating forest financing - in French (Le Courrier du Vietnam)

Vietnam gets $41.2 million in emission reduction payments (VietNam Net Global)

World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings (World Bank IMF)