REDD

United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen ended without a clear directive to save the world's forests, an issue seen as critical for averting dangerous climate change.

An agreement on REDD, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries, was expected to be completed last week as the talks wrapped up.

But the final "Copenhagen Accord" only recognized the importance of ending deforestation; it gave no specifics on what REDD will look like or what it will include.

The international climate talks have repeatedly bogged down in disputes over transparency and verification, but on one issue, technology is offering a solution.

New forest monitoring technology from tech giants Google and Cisco is starting to come online, allowing detailed tracking of land-use changes, particularly deforestation. The technology combines satellite images, maps and current and historical data for analysis. One system is being designed as a "planetary skin" with a network of sensors across the region and scientists on the ground to raise alerts in time to take action.

The almost real-time monitoring these systems offer may be what world leaders need to lock down a deal on a key component of an international climate treaty: REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

Reporting from Copenhagen

A much-touted UN forestry scheme aimed at ending deforestation and radically slowing global warming is close to getting approval at the 193-nation UN climate talks, but without any long-term financial commitments to pay for it.

Without money guaranteed from wealthy states, poor nations won't accept targets to end forest loss, making the plan hot air, forest advocates are warning.

Reporting from Copenhagen

The world's leaders can still forge a global warming pact in Copenhagen but only if major progress is made over the next day, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said this evening at the UN climate change negotiations.

With two days remaining in the international conference, talks remain deadlocked on all major issues.

"The next 24 hours will be absolutely critical," de Boer said. He said the conference must deliver agreements on "adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and forests."

De Boer's comments came as climate talks officially moved into the high-level segment. Many of the 115 heads of government joining the conference for its finale will begin arriving at Copenhagen's Bella Center on Thursday, adding security concerns on top of the pressure of cranking out the framework for one of the most complex treaties ever negotiated.

Reporting from Copenhagen

A deal is on the table at UN climate talks that would require poor nations to halt deforestation completely by 2030 on the condition that wealthy nations fork over $22 billion to $37 billion to jump start the plan, according to new text leaked today in Copenhagen.

"There's money in there for the first time," Peg Putt of the Wilderness Society told SolveClimate in an interview. That alone is "quite significant," she said.

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Reporting from Copenhagen

UN climate talks on ending deforestation hit a new low on Saturday after a leaked document revealed that immediate targets to halt forest loss had been cut out of a draft agreement.

Poorer forested countries had been willing to accept deforestation targets, but only with financial assistance. They wanted rich countries to commit to providing billions of dollars for the effort before they agreed to bind themselves to any goals.

Currently, there are no dollar commitments on the table.

The world may be close to clinching a deal to pay poor nations to preserve their forests, but the current plan lacks any monitoring to ensure billions of dollars are not lost to corruption, a new study released by the UK-based campaign group Global Witness warns.

If the scheme is adopted with no rules to ward off carbon crime, then it "will fail," said Rosalind Reeve, Global Witness forest campaign manager.

The forest text is expected to be finalized by the end of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit in Copenhagen on Dec. 18. The chances of monitoring provisions getting in are 50:50, Reeve told SolveClimate in an interview.

Reporting from Barcelona, Spain

Hopes for a strong global deal that would pay poor nations to stop deforestation hit a new low on Friday after negotiators at the climate talks in Barcelona released a draft proposal that lacks teeth.

The new text on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, called REDD, contains no international rules to enforce forest protection in countries that would get billions of dollars to implement REDD.

Most of these nations have weak legal enforcement of their own.

That makes the agreement "worth no more than the paper it is written on," said Rosalind Reeve, of London-based Global Witness. "The text, as it stands, reflects a strong push to receive REDD funds with no oversight."

"In the words of Abraham Lincoln, a good law without law enforcement is just good advice, " Davyth Stewart, an attorney for Global Witness, told SolveClimate.

Reporting from Barcelona, Spain

Developing nations could get paid billions to raze forests and build palm oil plantations in their place if current text in the Copenhagen climate treaty sticks, a group of advocates warned at the Barcelona climate talks today.

It's not set in stone. Governments could still reinsert a 10-word phrase requiring natural forest protection that got sliced from the treaty language, the nine-group Ecosystems Climate Alliance (ECA) explained in a statement.

They'll have to do it by Friday, though, the last day of the United Nations Barcelona talks.

The new Greenpeace report Business as Usual describes "five maximum points of danger" in the House and Senate climate bills. SolveClimate will be reposting each of those arguments over the course of the week.

“Handouts and Loopholes.” Those three words constituted the headline that The Economist used on its May 21 article on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). “America’s climate bill is weaker and worse than expected,” the magazine elaborated in the sub-head.

This should come as no surprise. One of the consequences of imposing a price on carbon is that it creates a new currency called carbon credits, and everyone on K Street wants to get their hands on this new money. Congress has complied with one of the biggest proposed giveaways in American history.

There are three fundamental industry giveaways that individually and together constitute an existential threat to the cap and trade system the bill is aiming to create: