How far and how fast jurisdictional REDD+ scales now depends on the last mile, from verified results to payment.
Jurisdictional REDD+ is delivering. Between July 2025 and June 2026, at least US$473 million was paid for results from 12 jurisdictions, covering some 86 million tonnes of verified emission reductions, according to the Forest & Climate Leaders' Partnership (FCLP).
Payments are flowing to several REDD+ countries, and more countries are lining up results behind them. The next stretch is the last mile, from a verified result to finance and benefits reaching the forest, verification takes time and resources, and contracts are detailed. As delegates gather in Antalya for COP31 from 9 to 20 November, the forest story worth telling is that this works, and that partners are working together to shorten the last mile.
“We are entering a new phase: from proof of concept to proof of scale. This is a significant milestone after years of building the foundations for REDD+,” says Mario Boccucci, Head of the UN-REDD Secretariat. “Countries are delivering results, and finance is beginning to flow. This opens new possibilities for collaboration among countries, investors and other stakeholders to accelerate finance for communities delivering forest solutions. The opportunity is real, and momentum is growing to turn the tide on deforestation together.”
Signed, verified, paid
Costa Rica has had 1.1 million credits issued, bought by at least ten companies alongside sovereign funders, and in June 2026 became the first country to receive ART-TREES credits for removals. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways became the first carriers to retire Guyana's jurisdictional credits against their CORSIA obligations. Credits from three jurisdictions are available to private buyers, nine more have results in validation and verification, and 28 jurisdictions have been paid for results since 2009, the FCLP counts.
The momentum now spans regions. On 23 January 2026, Nepal became the first country in Asia to sign an Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with the LEAF Coalition, for up to four million tonnes worth up to US$55 million, with a draft benefit-sharing plan that would send at least 80 percent of proceeds to local implementers, including community forest user groups and Indigenous Peoples. Bhutan has had its registration and monitoring reports approved by ART, Papua New Guinea's registration document has been approved, and three Mexican states, Jalisco, Quintana Roo and Yucatán, have submitted concept notes to ART.
Public finance is delivering too. In October 2025, the Green Climate Fund approved US$31 million for Uganda, the first RED+ results-based payment for an African country and for a Least Developed Country, rewarding more than 8 million tonnes of verified reductions.
The last-mile challenges
Countries tend to face similar challenges on the way to payment. The first is incentives: In many places the opportunity cost of keeping forests standing can exceed current prices, upfront investment is still scarce, and programmes work to meet both a market standard and the conditions of each ERPA.
Then there are transaction costs. Standards continue to evolve as the market matures, and countries benefit most when short-term technical assistance is matched by long-term national capacity. Verification involves significant costs and procurement steps, and demand for qualified verification bodies is growing. ERPAs are detailed contracts, and forest countries are better placed to negotiate them with dedicated legal support. Planning for verification costs is now part of UN-REDD's work with countries.
Each of these can be addressed, and the solutions are practical: more stable standards, support for verification costs, legal support for ERPA negotiations, and some finance up front against future results. Tackled together, they would help results reach payment sooner.
The opportunity is large. UNEP estimates forest finance needs to rise from US$84 billion in 2023 to US$300 billion a year by 2030, and only about 9 percent of today's forest finance is private, which leaves ample room for buyers and investors. The Tropical Forest Forever Facility, bilateral deals and the bioeconomy all have a part to play. Results-based REDD+ is already paying out, which makes it a ready channel for more.
UN-REDD's part
UN-REDD, the joint programme of FAO, UNDP and UNEP, spent years on the 'readiness' work behind these payments: national forest monitoring, reference levels and safeguards. Its technical assistance helped prepare Uganda's GCF proposal, and it is now supporting more than 20 countries at different stages, from those registering with ART to those in verification.
Through the ‘Forests Can’t Wait campaign’, UN-REDD is bringing forest countries, buyers, standards bodies and verifiers, and Indigenous Peoples and local communities to the same table to work through each bottleneck, from COP31 in Antalya to COP32.
From Antalya to COP32
Deforestation has slowed, yet the world still loses close to 11 million hectares of forest a year, about 21 hectares a minute, according to the FAO. Antalya is an opportunity to build on this momentum. Between COP31 and COP32, the aim is to issue and pay for more results, bring more countries into ERPAs, and complete transactions faster than ever.
