Forest carbon offset protocols in compliance carbon markets

The forestry sector plays a significant role in nature-based climate solutions. This paper is a comparative review and analysis of forest carbon offset protocols in compliance carbon markets in Australia, California, China, New Zealand, and U.S. Northeast. Our results show variations in protocol designs, particularly in relation to additionality, permanence, non-leakage, and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), as well as regarding the fungibility between industrial carbon reduction and forest-based carbon offset. These results may have implications for national or subnational entities to build credible forest carbon offset protocols and programs.