The Philippines has laid the regulatory groundwork for a credible forest carbon market, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) releasing two key policies designed to meet private sector demands for clear rules, strong safeguards, and transparent project pathways.
DENR Assistant Secretary Daniel Darius M. Nicer made the announcement during the High-Level Roundtable at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, held alongside Climate Week NYC. He stated these milestones position the country to draw high-integrity private investment into nature-based carbon initiatives.
Speaking to international ministers, climate envoys, and business leaders at the “Shaping High-Integrity Carbon Markets” session, Nicer stressed that large-scale corporate capital requires predictability and environmental rigor.
“Through DENR, we have issued two major policy instruments that establish the foundations of a credible forest carbon market—directly addressing what the private sector expects: clear rules, credible safeguards, and transparent project pathways,” he said.
The first is the Philippines Readiness in the Voluntary Forest Carbon Market Roadmap (2026–2030), setting national direction on policy, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), data management, and registry readiness—core benchmarks investors use to judge market reliability.
The second sets out national guidelines for registering and monitoring voluntary forest carbon credit projects. These rules embed environmental integrity, Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), and guaranteed community benefit-sharing, plus transparent registration to cut reputational and delivery risks for buyers.
“Carbon markets—voluntary and compliance alike—are central to our strategy to speed mitigation and unlock climate finance,” Nicer noted. “But markets work only when the private sector has clarity, predictability, and confidence that credits are real, additional, and backed by sound governance.”
Beyond forestry, he cited broader national progress: Department of Energy guidelines for renewable projects, the overarching Philippine Carbon Market Policy Framework, and the rollout of the National Carbon Registry to ensure full traceability and eliminate double counting.
Domestic policies align with Paris Agreement Article 6 through bilateral pacts, including the implementation agreement with Singapore and the Joint Crediting Mechanism with Japan. Looking ahead to COP31, Nicer called for stronger global guidance on market infrastructure and supply-side integrity for forest and blue carbon ecosystems.
“High-integrity markets must not only raise global ambition—they must deliver real, measurable results that directly benefit the communities, ecosystems, and sectors that need them most,” he said.
