Investors, brokers and senior government officials converged on global financial center London for the first-ever REDD+ investment roundtable last month, discussing how to close the forest finance gap, high-integrity jurisdictional carbon transactions and the steps needed to unlock the potential of such deals.
Hosted by UN-REDD Programme and the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM), the REDD+ Investment Opportunities Roundtable was held during London Climate Action Week on 23 June 2025. Attendees included 30 jurisdictional REDD+ (JREDD) representatives, 30 investors and brokers, and 30 carbon market observers such as standard-setters, insurance providers, development banks, Indigenous Peoples, civil societies and other international organizations.
The packed London event sought to bring together REDD+ suppliers and buyers to help outline what high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon transactions look like, what is holding back these investments, and identifying the initial steps needed to unleash this vital forest finance mechanism.
Forests are one of the most immediate and scalable tools for climate mitigation, yet they remain under-financed. Increasing private funding will be crucial in closing the funding gap to bolster forest conservation efforts and reduce emissions.
The jurisdictional approach to REDD+ generates high-quality emissions reductions and is one financial mechanism that can ramp up private funding and make a real difference, but many questions remain among sellers and buyers due to their complex nature. Regardless, several REDD+ programmes are already ready for or close to confirming offtake deals or investments for their credits. Therefore, REDD+ programme and countries are ready for capital to be deployed at scale, and buyers are on standby to purchase these credits.
Opening remarks at the London roundtable came from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Climate Envoy Rachel Kyte, who stated that it was a “make or break moment for forests”. Billions of dollars already flow through climate finance frameworks, but just a small fraction received were for forests, she said. The jurisdictional approach to REDD+ is one of the clearest, most scalable pathways to direct meaningful finance toward protecting forests and the communities that steward them, therefore carbon markets of high integrity have a key role to play, she added.
With COP30 in Brazil later this year, and the Amazon and forests in the global spotlight, there is now an opportunity to show that jurisdictional REDD+ is already working and that high-integrity is already available, said Kyte. Carbon finance deals made in the next 12 to 18 months will set the tone for the next decade, she added.
Following Kyte was a mix of candid panel discussions and attention-grabbing presentations. One well-received panel that discussed what is holding back carbon investments and what it will take to scale them, had insights from a Ghana government representative, investment manager Climate Asset Management, and specialist carbon insurer Kita, with Gabriel Labbate, the Head of the Climate Mitigation Unit and Global Team Leader at the UN-REDD Programme, as moderator.
In-depth country showcases were also presented by Haruni Krisnawati, Senior Advisor in Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, Nghiem Phuong Thuy, Forestry Officer in Viet Nam’s Department of Forestry, Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, Director of Climate Change at Ghana’s Forestry Commission and Heiru Sebrala, Forest Officer in the Ethiopian Forestry Department, Raquel Hilianova Soto Torres, the Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources for Peru and Leonardo Carvalho, the State Secretary for the Brazilian state of Acre (Brazil). Each received real-time investor feedback from groups that included non-profit Emergent, investment platforms GenZero and Capital Continuum, carbon credit solutions firm Abatable, and multinational bank Standard Chartered.
Among other key points discussed at the London event were low credit prices, risk-sharing, the need for insurance, and unclear global frameworks. Insights and takeaways included:
- Countries are “open for business”. While every government speaker at the roundtable emphasized readiness and a willingness to engage with carbon markets, the complex nature of this finance mechanism meant that many questions remain. These included when exactly credits will be online, and on what scale. While many delegates are still finalizing systems, there is a need for early investment and buy-side patience – akin to pre-ordering, not just shelf shopping.
- Investors and buyers want to engage but need risk clarity and mitigation. Risks were a leading concern on the investor side, especially policy volatility, credit delivery, and who ultimately holds the risk. Insurance mechanisms - to cover durability, permanence, and political shifts - were flagged as key, but underdeveloped.
- The alignment around the CCPs is key and there is growing government support for the work of the ICVCM. However, confusion remains around who certifies what, how host country claims intersect with credit ownership, and how NDC alignment works in practice.
- Price matters but so does trust. Everyone at the London roundtable agreed that pricing is still too low to trigger transactions at the scale needed. But price alone won’t move capital. Buyers want predictability, transparency, and trust. Countries want to be sure they’re not giving credits away too cheaply. Structuring win-win deals will require more dialogue, in addition to better pricing models.
- There is a willingness to act but time is running out. There’s a real sense that this market is at a tipping point. Demand is growing and the supply is forming, but the transaction infrastructure is still shaky. At the same time, countries and investors are ready and willing to act towards operationalizing deals, clarifying pathways to issuance, and ensuring countries and buyers are aligned ahead of COP30 in Brazil.
- Shifting from implementation to commercialization. A shift in the conversation is required, especially within governments, from implementation and readiness to having the commercial conversation on selling the credits at fair and equitable prices and structured deals. It is important everyone around the table has the required financial literacy and capacity within the organizations to enable good deals for everyone.
The roundtable event closed with informal discussions on investing in different regions and market barriers,laying the groundwork for concrete action ahead of COP30 in Brazil.
