About us

About us

The REDD+ Business Initiative aims to protect tropical forests, fight against biodiversity reduction, strengthen the rights and prospects of local communities and thereby reduce CO-2 emissions. With its practical approach, Dutch companies actively participate in tackling climate change.

Our flagship project – Tambopata

Our Tambopata Biodiversity Reserve and Agroforestry project combines the Tambopata National Reserve and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, which are both internationally recognised biodiversity hotspots in the Peruvian Amazon. Here, the lush tropical rainforests provide habitat for an incredible variety of rare and endangered wildlife.

This project is creating an economic buffer zone around a 586,000 hectare forest (an area about the size of Los Angeles). By helping local farmers with the transition to sustainable cocoa production, degraded land is being restored and deforestation pressures relieved. This creates a barrier to protect the rainforest and provides people with a forest-friendly and sustainable livelihood.

Conservation and protection activities inside the forest include biological monitoring and scientific research, as well as surveillance and control of illegal human behaviours.

This project is implemented on the ground by the Peruvian NGO, AIDER.

Visit Ecosphere+ for more information about this flagship project.

Between 2000 and 2005, an area five times the size of the Netherlands of tropical forest was cut.

The project in Peru where the REDD + Business Initiative is a part of helps ensure that

0 hectares of forest is protected, an area five times as large as the Veluwe
0 local families benefit from organic farming through REDD +
0 critically endangered species are protected
0 new species where discovered in the area: biodiversity is mapped and monitored

Calculate your carbon footprint through the REDD+ Business Initiative

Companies are integrating forest conservation into their climate and sustainability strategies in a variety of ways. Read more about how our members are using carbon credits in their business strategies to address climate change targets, zero-deforestation commitments, fulfil cradle-to-cradle requirements and offer carbon neutral products.

You can take action today through the REDD+ Business Initiative. You can use this free online carbon calculator tool to take the first step and measure the carbon footprint of your business’s activities.

You can then take action to rebalance this, address your climate impacts and support forest conservation at Tambopata immediately. Click here for more information and to use the tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

REDD+ is a global movement, resulting from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It aims to halt tropical deforestation. REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The plus stands for its focus on strengthening the socioeconomic position of local communities. In the global debate on climate change, REDD+ holds a remarkable position. Where most initiatives solely focus on reducing CO2 emissions, REDD+ also pays attention to the lives of people. Various countries initiate their own projects under the REDD+ label. With pride, we present our Dutch project: the REDD+ Business Initiative.

REDD+ acts against tropical deforestation by adding economic value to the CO2 in trees. This value – emissions – can be traded.  Until recently, trading CO2 emissions was only possible on a governmental scale. With REDD+ this scale is broadened to private sector, resulting in the fact that deforesting large areas is less attractive for developing countries as only healthy tropical rainforests provide economic value.

The REDD+ Business Initiative committed itself to a pilot project in Peru, Tambopata. In 2014 its partners invested 0,5 million Euro by purchasing CO2 credits from the Althelia Fund, pioneering with trading CO2 emissions in the public sector. Experimenting with this new trading system is not only important for the Netherlands, but for the entire world. A positive outcome shows that companies can be loyal partners in the fight against climate change. Also, it creates possibilities for local communities to improve their socioeconomic position, both structurally and sustainably. Farmers get loans to grow their crops in a sustainable way. This way they can sell their fair trade products all over the world.

Tropical forests continue to disappear at an alarming rate, resulting in 15-20% of the global CO2 emissions and a devastating loss of biodiversity. The REDD+ Business Initiative is committed to the project in Peru, as it is a practical example of how actors all over the world can work on reducing CO2 emissions and conserving biodiversity, while at the same time strengthening the rights and prospects of local communities. REDD+ shows how companies can effectively participate in tackling climate change.