akar.earthREDD+: Definition
What is REDD+? Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation explained: project vs jurisdictional approaches, methodologies and Indonesia's role.
REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. It is a framework under the UNFCCC and the basis of the largest category of forest carbon credits.
Why it matters
Tropical deforestation is a major source of global emissions. REDD+ pays forest countries, companies and communities to keep forests standing. It produces avoidance credits, which dominate nature-based supply in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia issued 129 million NbS credits under VCS and Gold Standard by April 2025, mostly from REDD+ in Indonesia and Cambodia.
How REDD+ is measured
- Baseline: expected deforestation and degradation without the project, from historical satellite data or allocated from a jurisdictional reference level.
- Monitoring: satellite mapping of forest loss plus field plots for carbon stocks.
- Leakage: monitoring displacement of deforestation outside the project.
- Deductions: uncertainty and buffer pool contributions.
Verra’s VM0048 consolidates REDD methods and allocates jurisdictional risk to projects. Jurisdictional REDD+ works at province or national scale, for example under ART TREES. The project vs jurisdictional comparison explains the trade-offs.
Indonesia angle
Indonesia provides 59.3% of Southeast Asian NbS issuance, largely REDD+ on peat swamp forest and lowland forest in Kalimantan and Sumatra. BeZero’s 11 rated ex-post Indonesian projects average ‘A’, above the typical ‘B’ for NbS elsewhere. Indonesia also runs results-based REDD+ programmes with international donors. Domestic rules under Perpres 110/2025 and Permenhut 6/2026 now govern forestry carbon trading and community participation.
Common mistakes
- Treating all REDD+ as equally risky; method, vintage and baseline matter.
- Ignoring how project baselines nest into national reference levels.
- Calling REDD+ credits removals.
- Buying on volume alone without checking the methodology version, the rating and whether the project is nested in a jurisdictional programme.
Related terms
See jurisdictional REDD+, nesting and leakage, or read the REDD+ baseline controversy. Start at the REDD+ hub.
Frequently asked questions
What does the plus in REDD+ mean?
It adds conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks to the original focus on reducing deforestation and degradation.
Is REDD+ still credible after the criticism of older projects?
Criticism focused on inflated baselines in older project-level methodologies. Newer approaches, such as Verra's VM0048 and jurisdictional programmes like ART TREES, set baselines from jurisdiction-wide data to reduce that risk.