Papua New Guinea will “immediately” lift a ban on forest carbon credit schemes, the Pacific nation’s climate minister told AFP on Thursday, opening up its vast wilderness to offset global emissions.
The island of New Guinea is cloaked in the world’s third-largest rainforest belt, helping the planet breathe by sucking in carbon dioxide gas and turning it into oxygen.
Foreign companies have in recent years snapped up tracts of forest in an attempt to sell carbon credits, pledging to protect trees that would otherwise fall prey to logging or land clearing.
But a string of mismanagement scandals forced Papua New Guinea to temporarily shut down this “voluntary” carbon market in March 2022.
Before the 2022 moratorium, foreign-backed syndicates were able to sign carbon credit deals directly with village elders.
In essence, they paid landowners so that tracts of rainforest would not be cleared for crops, sold for mining, or chopped down and turned into logs.
By protecting jungle that would have disappeared, these companies generated carbon credits they could sell on international markets.
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.
An investigation by Australian national broadcaster ABC alleged logging was still taking place in rainforests set aside for carbon credits.
And some landowners complained the lucrative promises of their foreign partners went largely unfulfilled.
Governments often force heavy polluters to offset emissions through mandatory carbon credit schemes.
But firms, charities and individuals can also choose to buy credits on so-called voluntary carbon markets.
“Attempts to establish projects have resulted in land disputes and the emergence of ‘Carbon Cowboys,'” wrote Australian environmental consultants Sustineo.