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Brazil's Zeg launches REDD+ project

  • Market: Emissions
  • 24/02/25

Brazilian biogas firm Zeg launched a new business division that will invest in reforestation in the Rio Branco valley, in northern Roraima state.

The new unit, dubbed Zeg Florestal, will protect 14,000 hectares (ha) of the Amazon to keep it from being converted to cattle ranching and soybean planting.

The state issued a decree in 2022 which reduced the legal reserve requirements on rural properties to 50pc from 80pc, clearing the way for property owners to legally deforest a larger share of their land holdings.

The project is the first in Roraima state to use the REDD+ framework, which aims to preserve standing forests and reduce emissions from deforestation. The project also focuses on biodiversity preservation and promotion of the bioeconomy, which includes the sale of sustainable products from the forest to help create jobs for area communities.

The project will use global certification agency Verra's Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standards. The company estimates that the project will avoid a combined 4mn metric tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2025 and 2026.

The project comes amid rising concerns about the legitimacy of carbon offsets from REDD+ projects, following a federal police investigation in June last year that exposed fraud for a project in Amazonas state. The large-scale corruption scheme involved around R180mn ($31.6mn) in carbon offsets that were generated from roughly 500,000ha of illegally occupied lands in the state. The police investigation also uncovered illegal deforestation and cattle ranching on land that was supposedly being preserved.


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