With support from Conservation International, BHP also integrated forest carbon into its broader climate change strategy, through support for REDD+, the United Nations program for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This included development of the Forests Bond, a first-of-its-kind bond issued by the IFC.

BP Ventures has invested $5 million in Finite Resources, parent company of Finite Carbon, which is a U.S.-based forest carbon management firm. The investment will enable Finite Carbon to launch voluntary carbon offset programs for businesses for sustainable forest management.

Carbon markets, particularly offsets, are shaking off their past and becoming a vital instrument for reaching CO 2 reduction goals, protecting and conserving biodiversity at scale, as well as meeting many of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. They need to succeed.

To pay for climate change solutions and lower the risk of transitioning to more sustainable practices, farmers will have to rely on financial incentives. In California, the money for those incentives is coming from the taxes the state imposes on polluters for the emissions they release; a coalition of groups has advocated for a portion of those funds to go to farmers who practice carbon farming. Over the next year, $12.5 million will go to support those efforts.

The Lab, an initiative of over 60 public and private investors and institutions, accelerates much-needed investment solutions to support developing countries to meet their climate change and sustainable development goals. Created in 2014, the Lab has now launched 41 instruments that have collectively mobilized nearly $2 billion for action on climate change and sustainable development.

IHS Markit announced that it has launched the IHS Markit Global Carbon Index, the first benchmark for the global price of carbon credits. According to the IHS Markit Global Carbon Index, the global weighted average price of carbon credits is $23.65. Since the beginning of 2018, the total return potentially gained by investors in global carbon is 132%, index data show.

Nearly a quarter of all the greenhouse gases emitted by humans come from the way we manage our forests, farms and fields, yet the Kyoto Protocol offered little in the way of tools for financing forest conservation. That began to change when developing countries introduced the concept of REDD+ in 2005, at year-end climate talks in Montreal.

"Most efforts and funding to date have been focused on accelerating the transition to clean energy and improving energy efficiency. We can’t tackle climate change without changing our energy systems — but we also can’t get there without harnessing the power of natural landscapes, to reduce impacts we’re experiencing and turning them from sources of carbon emissions to carbon sinks."