Building Coalitions

At Ecosphere+, we are helping to build coalitions in the area of natural climate solutions such as forest conservation with the aim of galvanising a large volume of emissions reductions and major positive benefits.

The world has seen a lot of voluntary and collaborative action from companies in the renewable energy sector, with hundreds of large corporates promising to switch to 100% renewable energy, for example, and using Renewable Energy Credits or REC’s to assist them in this goal in a practical and effective way.

We are helping to grow this kind of activity to encourage corporates to unite to deliver cost-effective lower net-emissions trajectories, collectively manage risks, take opportunities and amplify their impact.

Through coalitions that support REDD+ projects, businesses are taking a strategic and integrated approach to managing climate risk, investing in ecosystem resilience and making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

In July 2017, Ecosphere+ helped to launch the REDD+ Business Initiative, an initiative where member companies are developing effective, business-led solutions which demonstrate that companies are critical partners in the fight against deforestation and climate change. Our Tambopata project in Peru is the flagship project of this initiative.

The REDD+ Business Initiative current members include energy companies Shell, Eneco and Essent, carpet manufacturer Tarkett, Dutch development bank FMO and cocoa trader Cocoanect and all use forest carbon to tackle different aspects of their businesses environmental impacts. For example, some have developed climate neutral energy products and others use forest carbon credits as part of their cradle-to-cradle certification for products.

All businesses in the initiative support our Tambopata-Bahuaja Biodiversity Reserve project in Peru – which is reducing four million tonnes of CO₂ by 2021 through protecting vast expanses of the Amazon and is habitat for many critical species including jaguars. The carbon finance provides local livelihood opportunities for smallholder farmers to transition to production of sustainable commodities like Fairtrade cocoa.