At COP27, the main question from the developing world is "Where is the money?"  The Earth Innovation Institute (EII) is hard at work  supporting states and regional governments of the Amazon to find the finance they need to implement their socially-inclusive forest strategies, helping indigenous leaders from the Amazon understand their carbon finance options, and sharing the results of our work in panels and informal meetings.

One example of our research is a new publication that brings clarity around the confusing world of forest carbon finance in Brazil. We brought together five top Brazilian legal teams and Brazil's top environmental economist to answer critical questions, such as “Who owns forest carbon in Brazil?  How can emissions reductions be sold?  Can Amazon states sell forest carbon credits?”

We are putting into practice the findings of our study released earlier this year, “The New Carbon Market and the Brazilian Amazon Forest," which demonstrates how the state forest programs of the Brazilian Amazon could capture USD $2 billion per year to finance themselves. We are happy to report that the Brazilian states of Tocantins and Acre are making great progress towards forest carbon deals.

Last week, Executive Director Daniel Nepstad kicked off EII’s participation in COP27 as a panelist in a discussion on Enhancing the Quality of Nature-based Carbon Credits. EII team members are participating as panelists in several other side events, including an event on Ways to end deforestation and reduce Brazilian emissions at the Brazil Climate Action Hub organized by CDP, Instituto Clima e Sociedade (ICS), Fundação Getúlio Vargas and others.

During the second week of the climate change conference, EII is partnering with the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force and Pronatura Sur to host an official side event focused on Mapping Subnational Climate Action through Forest Conservation that Benefits People and the Planet. The side event will take place on Wednesday, November 16 (18:30-20:00 local time, Osiris room) and will stream live on the UNFCCC’s official channel. Panelists include Governors, Secretaries of Environment, and other high-level officials from GCF-TF member states in Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, Mexico, and Côte D’Ivoire, as well as indigenous peoples and local community representatives from the Amazon and North America, private sector representatives and representatives from academia, the donor community, and non-governmental organizations supporting jurisdictional programs. Dr. Nepstad will make opening remarks and Brazil Country Director Monica de los Rios will make comments regarding the development of jurisdictional REDD+ programs in the Brazilian Amazon. We hope you will join us!