- With the support of RFUS, Indigenous and local community advocacy shaped ART’s TREES 3.0 carbon credit standard for more decision-making power.
- Wins include stronger Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) rules, a new benefit sharing requirement, and improved conditions for participation in ART programs.
- Gaps remain in program governance, community co-design guarantees, and auditor quality controls—particularly around rights-related matters.
The Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART), a leading standard setting body for jurisdictional forest carbon credits, has programs in 27 jurisdictions covering 25% of the world’s tropical forests — nearly 1 billion acres. The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard, TREES, governs how ART measures, monitors, reports and verifies emission reductions from REDD+ activities.
Over the period of 2024-2025, ART conducted a periodic review of the TREES standard to ensure ongoing alignment with changing best practices and reflect the latest science and technology. This review was also informed by the first experiences in implementing the standard since TREES 2.0 was published in 2021. For TREES 3.0, Rainforest Foundation US and Rainforest Foundation Norway, alongside Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Community partners and allies called for: stronger requirements for consultation and free, prior, informed consent; inclusive governance to ensure communities have real decision-making power; and clearer rights protections backed by stronger oversight.
The result, TREES 3.0, released in June 2026, delivered real wins. FPIC was preserved and expanded. A standalone benefit-sharing section was added for the first time. Public comment periods nearly doubled, translation requirements improved, and previously overlooked groups — including Afro-descendant Peoples and Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact — gained explicit recognition.
But the wins are partial. TREES 3.0 still leaves jurisdictions broad discretion over multiple program components, doesn’t require a dedicated governance body for REDD+ programs, and defers action on auditing gaps to forthcoming processes.
As RFUS’s Senior Policy Manager Maryka Paquette put it, the social integrity of carbon initiatives “cannot be assumed,” it must be built into enforceable requirements and defended by the communities it’s meant to protect. The coalition’s advocacy meaningfully improved the rules, but communities will need to stay vigilant to ensure they translate into real protection on the ground.
