REDD+ is a voluntary climate change mitigation framework developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It aims to encourage developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to promote conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks through financial incentives and policy support. The acronym is commonly expanded as "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries", and the "+" denotes the additional forest conservation and enhancement activities included in the UNFCCC scope. UNFCCC decisions describe REDD+ as a phased approach, beginning with "readiness" activities (planning, capacity-building and institutional development), moving to implementation of national policies and measures, and evolving toward results-based actions that are fully measured, reported and verified. Countries undertaking REDD+ are expected to develop a national strategy or action plan, establish a forest reference (emission) level (FREL/FRL) as a benchmark for assessing performance, and build a national forest monitoring system to support monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). UNFCCC decisions also include social and environmental safeguards (often referred to as the Cancún safeguards) and require countries seeking results-based payments to provide information on how safeguards are addressed and respected. REDD+ is supported through a mix of multilateral and bilateral channels and can receive results-based finance when reported results meet UNFCCC methodological and transparency requirements under the Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus. A 2024 multi-country impact evaluation reported modest average forest outcomes and limited average welfare effects, with impacts not always sustained over time. Reviews and methodological assessments highlight uncertainties in baselines (reference levels), additionality, leakage, non-permanence and measurement capacity, especially for forest degradation and carbon pools that are harder to quantify. Criticisms and controversies also focus on governance and equity issues, including land tenure and carbon rights, benefit sharing, and the participation and consent of Indigenous peoples and local communities, alongside broader debates over the role of forest offsets in climate policy. REDD+ remains an active part of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement architecture. Most of the core UNFCCC decisions that define REDD+ were adopted between 2010 and 2015, including the Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus (2013). Countries continue to report REDD+ results through technical annexes to developing-country reports, including under the Paris Agreement's enhanced transparency framework via technical annexes to biennial transparency reports (BTRs). Results-based finance also continues through multilateral channels such as the Green Climate Fund's REDD+ results-based payments window.
Background
Climate change mitigation context Deforestation and forest degradation are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions, although their share of global emissions depends on accounting choices (for example, whether net land-use change fluxes that include forest regrowth are used). In 2019, the IPCC estimated net emissions from the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector at about 13 GtCO2-eq (about 22% of global net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions), and reported that about half of net AFOLU emissions were net CO2 emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), predominantly from deforestation. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is estimated to be one of the most cost-efficient climate change mitigation strategies. Regeneration of forest on degraded or deforested lands can remove CO2 from the atmosphere through the build-up of biomass, making forest lands a sink of greenhouse gases.
Reducing emissions Emissions of greenhouse gases from forest land can be reduced by slowing down the rates of deforestation and forest degradation, covered by REDD+ eligible activities. Another option would be some form of reduced-impact logging in commercial logging, under the REDD+ eligible activity of sustainable management of forests.
Enhancing removals Removals of greenhouse gases (specifically CO2) from the atmosphere can be achieved through various forest management options, such as replanting degraded or deforested areas or enrichment planting, but also by letting forest land regenerate naturally. Care must be taken to differentiate between what is a purely ecological process of regrowth and what is induced or enhanced through some management intervention.
History
Terminology The UNFCCC workstream is commonly referred to as "reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation", abbreviated as REDD+. In formal UNFCCC agenda items and decision titles, the Conference of the Parties (COP) has often spelled out the scope rather than relying on an acronym, while "REDD+" is widely used as shorthand in UNFCCC materials and the wider literature. The original submission by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, on behalf of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, dated 28 July 2005, was entitled "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries: Approaches to Stimulate Action". COP 11 entered the request as agenda item 6: "Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries: approaches to stimulate action". As negotiations progressed, UNFCCC titles expanded from a focus on deforestation toward a broader scope that also covered forest degradation and the roles of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The set of decisions on REDD+ adopted at COP 19 in Warsaw (2013) is collectively known as the Warsaw Framework on REDD-plus, a label introduced in a footnote to the titles of the decisions. In common usage:
REDD originally referred to "reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries" (as in the 2005–2007 agenda wording). REDD+ (or REDD-plus) is used for the broader scope that includes reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. Most of the key REDD+ decisions were completed by 2013, with the final pieces of the UNFCCC rulebook finished in 2015.
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