Forest accounts put Gabon's carbon stock above 8.1 billion tons in 2020, and global climate regulation makes up more than 95 percent of the ecosystem service value, a value the country captures only marginally at home. According to the report, Gabon's results in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) already exceed 90 million tons of CO₂ equivalent for 2010 to 2018.
The jurisdictional REDD+ programme submitted under the ART-TREES standard covers about 23.5 million hectares of forest for the 2018 to 2022 crediting period. The 2022 Climate Law provides for carbon trading, but its implementing decrees, a national carbon registry and a designated national authority for transactions under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement have yet to be established. The report also points to overlapping roles between the National Climate Council, the Gabonese Strategic Investment Fund and the Gabonese Agency for Green Economic Development (AGADEV).
The priorities identified include adopting implementing regulations, creating a registry and a one-stop carbon market office, defining carbon rights and benefit-sharing mechanisms with communities, and setting nesting rules so that private projects can be integrated into jurisdictional accounting.
