Papua New Guinea plans to "swiftly" remove the prohibition on forest carbon credit initiatives, according to statements made by the country’s climate minister to AFP on Thursday. This move will allow access to its extensive wild areas as a means of compensating for worldwide emission levels.
The island of New Guinea is covered by one of the largest expanses of tropical rainforests globally, assisting Earth’s respiratory function by absorbing carbon dioxide and converting it into oxygen.
In recent years, international businesses have acquired extensive areas of woodland with the aim of selling carbon offsets, committing to preserve trees that might otherwise be lost to deforestation or clearance for development.
However, a series of mismanagement scandals compelled Papua New Guinea to briefly suspend their "voluntary" carbon market in March 2022.
The Environment Minister, Simo Kilepa, informed AFP that due to the implementation of new safety measures, the three-year moratorium will be "lifted right away."
Kilepa mentioned that Papua New Guinea is lifting the ban on voluntary carbon markets.
We currently have established carbon market regulations along with guidelines for managing and overseeing the carbon market.
Officials from Papua New Guinea’s national climate agency stated in a recent briefing that their country aims to emerge as a significant participant in global carbon trading.
Carbon credit programs are considered essential for preventing the devastation of Papua New Guinea’s lush rainforests, believed to harbor approximately seven percent of the world's overall biodiversity.
Prior to the 2022 moratorium, foreign-backed groups could enter into carbon credit agreements directly with village leaders.
Ultimately, they compensated landowners to ensure that portions of the rainforest were not cleared for agriculture, converted for mining purposes, or cut down to produce timber.
By safeguarding forests that were destined for destruction, these businesses created carbon credits which they could then trade on global marketplaces.
'Carbon cowboys'
Some ideas were incredibly ambitious — for instance, a carbon trading initiative set along Papua New Guinea’s north shore could have become one of the largest globally, as reported by Carbon Market Watch.
But Papua New Guinea's carbon market was mired in controversy, with one regional governor alleging some foreign firms were little more than "carbon cowboys" out to make quick cash.
A probe conducted by Australia’s national public broadcaster ABC claimed that logging activities were continuing within rainforest areas designated for carbon credit programs.
Some landowners grumbled that the generous commitments made by their foreign associates were mostly not kept.
"Sustineo, an Australian environmental consultancy firm, reported that efforts to initiate projects led to land conflicts and gave rise to 'Carbon Cowboys,'" they stated.
Various carbon credit programs globally have faced a series of comparable criticisms.
There is no standardized set of regulations for these transactions, and numerous projects have faced accusations of dealing in nearly valueless credits.
Governments frequently require significant polluters to compensate for their emissions by participating in compulsory carbon credit programs.
However, companies, nonprofits, and people have the option to purchase credits from what are known as voluntary carbon markets.
The voluntary program in Papua New Guinea is part of an international framework called REDD, which stands forReducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing nations.
Papua New Guinea has been working on a bilateral agreement that might result in it generating carbon credits for the city-state of Singapore.
In 2023, Papua New Guinea entered into an agreement with Blue Carbon, a company based in Dubai, known for acquiring large tracts of land throughout Africa primarily for carbon credit purposes.
