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If you’re interested in forest conservation or carbon offsets, you might have read an interesting announcement last week regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  A carbon offsetting firm (Shift2Neutral) announced a nation-wide agreement with all DRC provinces, tribal chiefs, land owners, and the spokesperson of the DRC Senate.  According to the press announcement, the deal gives the company exclusive rights to develop carbon offset projects in the country, including REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), reforestation, and alternative energy projects.

As such, this announcement raised many eyebrows.  Carbon project developers, investors, and country governments can avoid this kind of unkind speculation, simply by being transparent about their projects.  This hasn’t been the chosen route in some cases, and those projects are always met with criticism and opposition.  According to a World Bank employee, the DRC Ministry of the Environment isn’t aware of the recent agreement, so the DRC government is unlikely committed to the deal.