Standard Chartered and Brazilian State of Acre to bring high integrity carbon credits to market to support forest conservation

• Standard Chartered announces agreement to sell high integrity forest protection carbon credits over the next 5 years in co-ordination with the Brazilian State of Acre, located in the Amazon rainforest.
• The sale of credits will help create incentives for preserving standing forests by delivering economic and social benefits to indigenous and local communities – who are expected to receive 72 per cent of the net funds generated by the State of Acre.
• The initiative is designed to support greater integrity in the voluntary carbon market by promoting the rigorous assessment of environmental impact and extensive consultation with local communities.
• The State of Acre chose Standard Chartered as its partner due to the bank’s global network, expertise in carbon markets, and shared commitment to deliver value for communities.

Standard Chartered, a global cross-border bank, today announces a landmark agreement to sell high-integrity forest protection carbon credits in co-ordination with the Government of the State of Acre over the next five years, with potentially 5 million credits coming to market in 2026. This is one of the first examples of a major international bank working with a sub-national government or state entity in this way to help support forest conservation.

The credits will take the form of jurisdictional forest carbon credits. Unlike project-based forest carbon credits, jurisdictional credits cover an entire jurisdiction and are overseen by the government. The credits will help to protect forests in the State of Acre from deforestation. 

The credits will be registered in the Architecture for the REDD+ Transactions (ART) registry, using its verified TREES methodology. This methodology has been approved by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).

The initiative will help to unlock capital to deliver economic, environmental, and social benefits to the region and the communities of Acre, located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Acre has publicly committed that net funds generated to the State from the sale proceeds will be allocated through the following benefit sharing strategy:

• 72 per cent will be allocated to indigenous and local communities. This capital will go towards activities including sustainable and low-emission livestock farming, the reforestation of secondary forests, the creation of clearings without deforestation and sustainable community-based tourism.
• 28 per cent will be used to finance project management and governance. This includes the effective management of the forests, monitoring and verification of adherence to the TREES standard, and emergency responses to extreme weather events.

Standard Chartered will act as the exclusive seller of the credits into the market. This approach could help to establish a scalable model for jurisdiction-wide efforts to tackle deforestation and reduce emissions.

Marisa Drew, Chief Sustainability Officer, Standard Chartered, said: “Without deploying new market mechanisms, standing forests are unlikely to be protected because the short-term economic incentive for deforestation nearly always outweighs the perceived value of these long-term natural assets in situ. We’re leveraging our global network and carbon market expertise to address this challenge directly, offering a means to help preserve standing forests that act as vital carbon sinks, and in turn help the communities that depend on them continue to realise the economic and social returns they provide.”

Mr. Amarisio Freitas, Secretary of the Treasury of the State of Acre, speaker and leader of the State’s Jurisdictional Carbon Project, said: “This arrangement will bring economic and social benefits to the people of Acre, while protecting our natural resources and supporting the traditional communities and indigenous peoples of our state. The government has fought for a fair society by providing solutions for all its inhabitants, creating development mechanisms in the regions furthest from the capital without negatively impacting the ecosystem. This arrangement provides us an effective tool in the fight for sustainable economic development. We are excited to work with Standard Chartered on this groundbreaking innovation.”

The initiative is grounded in community engagement and informed consultation. The main phase of the consultation took place in May 2025, involving the five regions of the state. The process included a formal review of the benefit sharing strategy, to ensure that communities from indigenous peoples, local communities and family farmers could opine on the benefit sharing strategy and adapt it, if needed, before final agreement on the strategy.

Germana Cruz, CEO & Head of Financial Institutions, LATAM, Standard Chartered, said: “As the world looks toward COP30, the State of Acre is stepping forward with bold leadership on carbon markets – combining environmental ambition with economic opportunity. Standard Chartered is proud to support this vision by bringing our global expertise in sustainable finance to help build credible, scalable carbon market solutions for our markets.”

The initiative aligns directly with the COP30 Presidency aim of accelerating climate finance for forests and developing economies, with Brazil placing significant emphasis on halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.

An independent assessment of Acre’s jurisdictional carbon credit programme, operating under the ART-Trees standard, is underway. This third-party assessment – conducted by Sylvera, a leading carbon data provider – will be the first time a Brazilian jurisdiction has sought an independent assessment of its carbon credit classification and will help to increase market confidence.

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