On November 17 and 19, the course on Forest Carbon Capture Projects took place, aiming to generate a greater understanding of this topic and allowing its relevance to be identified within an Emissions Trading System (ETS) by encouraging the reduction of emissions in unregulated sectors.

The GIZ SiCEM project and the 2030 Agenda Working Group on Climate Change organised the course, which focused on showing the challenges and opportunities currently presented by these projects in the national and global context. Specialists from the World Resources Institute imparted the training.

Over the two sessions, participants discussed the status of forestry projects within Mexico as well as the environmental and social co-benefits they provide. The validation and verification of projects of this type were also addressed, based on the provisions of the Forestry Protocol for Mexico of the Climate Action Reserve (CAR). Thus, more than 100 attendees– including verifiers and the private sector –were able to learn in detail about the importance of validation and verification for project development. Likewise, they were able to learn about the process behind this type of project, the documentation necessary and the requirements to become a verifier.

Finally, an analysis was carried out of the processes that make up a forest carbon capture project, emphasising that–although the main objective of these projects is the reduction of emissions and the conservation of biodiversity–it is necessary to keep the communities that own the the land in mind, taking advantage of their social organisation and, above all, favouring their empowerment.

During the sessions, the importance of verifying these projects was reiterated, inviting the attendees to replicate what they learned within their companies. They were also invited to consider the opportunity to be trained to become verifiers, given their relevance within the voluntary and regulated carbon markets.