Verra Certifies First Government-Led Jurisdictional Forest Carbon Programme in Argentina's Misiones Province

Verra has approved its first-ever government-led forest carbon programme at provincial scale in the Province of Misiones, Argentina, registered under the Verified Carbon Standard Programme's Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ Framework and marking the first programme globally to achieve certification under Scenario 2 of the JNR Framework. The programme covers approximately 3 million hectares of native Atlantic Forest in northeastern Argentina and generated approximately 13.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in verified emission reductions over its first six years from 2017 to 2022. Mandy Rambharos, Chief Executive Officer of Verra, said the programme shows what is possible when governments lead on climate, demonstrating that public policy and carbon markets can work together effectively when a government builds the institutions, policies and partnerships needed to protect forests and bring results to market.

 

The JNR Framework and Scenario 2 Significance

 

Unlike carbon projects operating at local scale, jurisdictional REDD+ programmes credit verified emission reductions across an entire jurisdiction, providing a comprehensive accounting of forest protection outcomes rather than individual project-level results. The Misiones programme operates under Scenario 2 of Verra's JNR Framework, which allows a government to generate credits for forest areas not covered by any individual project, with individual projects required to nest within the programme using its approved baselines to ensure accurate accounting of emission reductions without double counting. Achieving certification under this pathway for the first time globally establishes Misiones as a pioneer and provides a replicable template that other subnational governments can follow.

The jurisdictional scale of the programme is significant because it addresses one of the most persistent criticisms of project-level REDD+ credits, namely that emissions reduced or avoided within a project boundary may simply shift to adjacent forest areas outside the project. A provincial-level programme covering 3 million hectares substantially reduces this leakage risk by accounting for emission changes across the entire jurisdiction rather than individual parcels. The certification reflects years of coordination across multiple provincial institutions, technical teams, market actors and an independent validation and verification body, demonstrating that the governance complexity of jurisdictional programmes can be managed successfully by a provincial government with sustained commitment.

 

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The Programme's Climate and Conservation Impact

 

The Misiones Atlantic Forest is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in South America and among the most threatened, with the Province having made forest protection a longstanding state policy priority. Adolfo Safran, Minister of Finance, Treasury, Public Works and Public Services for the Province of Misiones, said the Province has always made protection of the rainforest a state policy and that the programme's benefit distribution mechanism will allow the results of decades of effort to be returned to the community. He invited qualified investors interested in high-quality credits to support the initiative and thanked Verra for its ongoing collaboration in bringing the programme to certification.

The 13.1 million tonnes of verified emission reductions generated over the first six years represents a substantial contribution to Argentina's climate commitments and demonstrates the scale of carbon sequestration and avoided deforestation that jurisdictional programmes can deliver. The benefit distribution mechanism referenced by Safran reflects the programme's intent to direct carbon market revenues to the communities and conservation activities that underpin the forest protection outcomes, addressing the equity dimension that has been central to criticism of some carbon market approaches. Transparent benefit sharing is increasingly a prerequisite for high-integrity carbon credit buyers evaluating the social as well as environmental credentials of nature-based solutions.

 

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Implications for Global Carbon Markets and Government-Led Programmes

 

The Misiones certification is expected to encourage the development of additional programmes under the VCS JNR Framework across Argentina and in countries throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia that are exploring jurisdictional-scale approaches to climate finance and forest protection. The programme offers a replicable model for national and subnational governments seeking to align climate policy objectives, forest conservation priorities and access to international carbon markets within a single governance framework. For buyers of carbon credits, jurisdictional programmes offer the potential for large-scale, high-integrity purchases from a single supplier with government-level accountability and multi-institutional governance, which may be more attractive than aggregating many smaller project-level credits.

The timing of the certification is also relevant to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, where jurisdictional REDD+ programmes have been discussed as potential vehicles for generating Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes. A certified, registry-listed jurisdictional programme with a verified track record of emission reductions provides the type of government-led accounting infrastructure that Article 6 bilateral implementation agreements require. Whether the Misiones programme can attract the international corporate and sovereign buyers needed to sustain carbon market revenues that incentivise continued forest protection will be the practical test of the programme's commercial viability.

 

Outlook for Jurisdictional Forest Carbon Finance

 

The Verra certification of the Misiones programme represents a meaningful step forward for the broader ambition of scaling nature-based carbon finance through government-led jurisdictional mechanisms rather than individual projects alone. If the programme can successfully attract buyers and generate revenues that demonstrate the financial case for forest protection at provincial scale, it will provide powerful evidence for other governments weighing the costs and governance complexity of jurisdictional programme development against the potential benefits. The combination of high environmental integrity, large-scale emission reductions and government accountability that jurisdictional programmes offer positions them well for the next phase of voluntary carbon market development, where quality and accountability are becoming the primary differentiators.

Whether the Misiones programme can be fully operationalised to generate and sell credits at a pace that creates meaningful economic incentives for continued forest protection will depend on the depth of buyer interest, the trajectory of carbon credit prices and the programme's ability to demonstrate sustained emission reductions beyond the initial 2017 to 2022 period. Sustained success would establish the Misiones model as the reference case for government-led jurisdictional forest carbon programmes globally and create momentum for similar programmes across the tropical forest nations that hold the majority of the world's remaining intact forest carbon stocks.

 

 

Source: Verra