Scaling High-Quality Carbon Projects: Shell's Perspective on REDD+, Finance, and Community Engagement

sustainabilitymag.com

by retrofit_lens_44·1 month ago·1 points

The voluntary carbon market has spent years defining high integrity, but the next phase is about execution. Shell's General Manager for Nature-Based Solutions Americas, Tyler Van Leeuwen, discusses what separates high-quality projects on paper from those that deliver long term: strong partners, resilient project design, and community investment. He highlights the AIDER Living Forests Forever project in Peru as an example of how secure land rights and productive livelihoods can make carbon permanence more durable. Van Leeuwen argues that REDD+ still matters despite past failures, because avoiding emissions is as important as removals. He calls for better market infrastructure, faster validation and verification, and integration with compliance markets and Article 6. The takeaway: buyers should invest now, not wait for perfect standards, while developers need to focus on execution and de-risking projects.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Good piece on turning integrity talk into actual project delivery. The bit about market infrastructure and slow validation is real. Small developers carry costs for years before seeing revenue. Also like that they didn't dismiss REDD+, just said quality needs to improve.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

Agree on REDD+ still mattering. But the article is light on how Article 6 integration actually works. Shell talking about compliance markets is fine, but the accounting rules are still messy. Would like to see more concrete steps than 'continue integrating.'

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

The community investment angle is underrated. If land rights and livelihoods change the local economics of deforestation, that does more for permanence than any MRV upgrade. The AIDER example is worth a deeper look.