Equitable Earth Launches New REDD+ Methodology at COP30

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M002 brings standardised carbon accounting, Indigenous leadership, and moves over 4 million hectares of forest into certification.

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Belém, November 13, 2025 — At COP30 in Belém, where global attention turns to the Amazon, Equitable Earth has officially launched M002, a next-generation REDD+ methodology designed to accelerate certification for Avoiding Unplanned Deforestation and Degradation (AUDD).

The launch took place at Aldeia COP, the Indigenous participation hub bringing together up to 3,000 leaders from communities across Brazil and around the world.

With over 4 million hectares of projects already moving into certification across Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso and Pará in Brazil as well as across Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, M002 is now fully equipped to bring high-integrity forest protection to market.

Built on the foundations of the Equitable Earth Coalition, which in 2023 united over 125 Indigenous leaders, scientists, and conservation experts, M002 reflects a co-created vision for forest conservation that is rigorous, inclusive, and transparent.

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“We urgently need to both protect and restore the world’s ecosystems. With M002, we’ve expanded our methodologies to enable both,” said Thibault Sorret, CEO of Equitable Earth. “We’re confident that M002 gives developers and communities a clear, efficient path to certification, and opens a new chapter for forest conservation, turning commitments into tangible, equity-centred outcomes.”

"Protecting forests means recognising the rights and leadership of those who live within them. We now have an opportunity to reshape climate finance so it works with, not around, Indigenous and local communities.” Beto Borges, Director - Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative, Forest Trends.

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M002 addresses long-standing barriers to credible REDD+ financing by:

• Elevating livelihoods. The Equitable Earth Programme includes a dedicated Livelihoods Pillar with measurable requirements for protection, engagement, and benefit sharing with Indigenous People and local communities, ensuring decisions are co‑created and lead to fairer, more trusted and impactful outcomes.
• Delivering centralised, independent carbon accounting. Equitable Earth centralises forest biomass-change calculations and monitors deforestation and degradation in-house with a standardised approach, using advanced remote sensing and risk modelling. This independent, uniform process ensures transparent, consistent crediting that builds confidence across the market.
• Capturing total forest loss. M002 leverages advanced technology to monitor biomass changes and capture both deforestation and degradation with conservative, standardised, and consistent rules. This guarantees credits accurately reflect total forest loss, strengthening the integrity and impact of conservation projects.

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Looking ahead:

With its programme already ICVCM-approved, Equitable Earth is positioned to scale high-integrity, community-led forest conservation worldwide, and is committed to continuously improving and expanding.

Equitable Earth develops risk maps for jurisdictions on an ongoing basis, with the objective of covering all REDD+ jurisdictions worldwide.

The methodology will continue to expand, incorporating carbon removals, additional ecosystems such as peatlands, and further innovations in accounting for permanence risk, leakage, and uncertainty.

These enhancements ensure that M002 remains at the forefront of high-integrity forest conservation, providing developers, investors, and governments with the tools needed to protect and restore forests at scale.