Philippines DENR issues forest carbon market rules to attract high-integrity private investment

The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources has issued two policy instruments to set up a credible voluntary forest carbon market. One is the national Readiness Roadmap for 2026 to 2030, which covers policy direction, MRV systems, data management, and registry readiness. The other is the national guidelines for establishing, registering, and monitoring voluntary forest carbon projects, including safeguards like Free, Prior and Informed Consent and community benefit-sharing. These rules aim to give corporate buyers clear project pathways and reduce delivery and reputational risk. The DENR also pointed to the Philippine National Carbon Registry to prevent double counting and to bilateral deals under Article 6 with Singapore and Japan. The announcement positions the Philippines to attract private finance into nature-based carbon projects while aligning with broader carbon governance efforts, including renewable energy guidelines and the national carbon market policy framework.