The Multidimensional Benefits of ITMOs

The world's first Sovereign Article 6 Carbon Credits of the Paris Agreement (ITMOs) represent more than just a ton of carbon removal. ITMOs also include national Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Biodiversity, Local and Indigenous Rights benefits.

By Michael Kril-Mathres , Chief Marketing Officer, ITMO Ltd.

Ecosystem restoration plans can lead to disproportionate environmental and societal benefits, particularly in tropical countries. If such plans are not done at the national level and holistically, they can often focus on a single benefit, such as carbon, causing tradeoffs and inequity.

However, when a country issues an Article 6 ITMO under the UN Climate Change Paris Agreement, the sovereign nation does not just fulfill its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)(1) and global carbon targets, but also aims at fulfilling multiple national/international objectives such as the UN Biodiversity Kunming-Montreal objectives, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the UN Climate Change Indigenous Rights Platform.

Biodiversity thrives in the care of Indigenous communities. As much as 80% of the world’s remaining forest biodiversity lies within Indigenous Peoples’ territories, and Indigenous and community lands store at least 24% of the above-ground carbon in the world’s tropical forests - IUCN, 2019

Many academic papers support this multidimensional and holistic system including this new paper by Dr. Trisha Gopalakrishna, Ph.D. "Optimizing restoration: A holistic spatial approach to deliver Nature’s Contributions to People with minimal tradeoffs and maximal equity". It illustrates how you can deliver these benefits, implying minimal tradeoffs, if you have a multi-goal approach that addresses all these challenges.

Approximately one-third of the global human population live in potential forest restoration areas in the Global South (9). Successful delivery of forest restoration in the Global South requires prioritizing the needs of local communities, and can be enhanced by affording of rights and ensuring local participation in rule-making and community management (9, 10). - Dr. Trisha Gopalakrishna, Ph.D.

The world's first Sovereign ITMOs do just that, as they are issued under a national (Article 5.2) and international scheme (Article 6.2) that must adhere to these global environmental and societal challenges:

• Biological diversity: That actions are consistent with the conservation of natural forests and biological diversity... as well as the International Mother Earth Day.(6) In other words the country needs to abide by the UN Biodiversity Convention and its goals.
• Sustainable Development Goals: Parties recognize that some Parties choose to pursue voluntary cooperation in the implementation of their nationally determined contributions to allow for higher ambition in their mitigation and adaptation actions and to promote sustainable development and environmental integrity.(7) In other words, a country needs to adhere to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Local and Indigenous Rights: Respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities, by taking into account relevant international obligations, national circumstances and laws, and noting that the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.(5)

In addition to these internationally monitored benefits, this Paris Agreement Carbon Crediting scheme is also equitable, as it must benefit all peoples within the country including those who may be socioeconomically disadvantaged such as the Indigenous Peoples. This is why 95% of all revenues from these Paris Agreement carbon credit ITMOs go directly to the country and its local communities.

In conclusion, when a company, investor or country buys or invests in the world's first Sovereign ITMOs, the purchaser obtains, not just the tons of carbon sequestration of the ITMOs carbon unit, but also all of the ITMOs multidimensional benefits: Biodiversity, Sustainable Development Goals, Local and Indigenous Rights.

ITMO Ltd. has opened a virtual data room with all the 50+ documents explaining this whole Paris Agreement Carbon Crediting process. If you are interested in buying the world's first ITMOs please contact: Michael Mathres [email protected] or visit us at www.itmo.com

(Sources used in this article)

1. UNFCCC Paris Agreement Article 3: As nationally determined contributions to the global response to climate change, all Parties are to undertake and communicate ambitious efforts as defined in Articles 4, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 13 with the view to achieving the purpose of this Agreement as set out in Article 2. The efforts of all Parties will represent a progression over time, while recognizing the need to support developing country Parties for the effective implementation of this Agreement. https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs
2. UNFCCC Cancun Safeguards: https://redd.unfccc.int/fact-sheets/safeguards.html
3. UNFCCC Most relevant COP decisions related to (1): 1/CP.16, 12/CP.17, 12/CP.19, 17/CP.21
4. UNFCCC Cancun Safeguard 3: Respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities, by taking into account relevant international obligations, national circumstances and laws, and noting that the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; https://redd.unfccc.int/fact-sheets/safeguards.html
5. UNFCCC Cancun Safeguard 4: The full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, in particular indigenous peoples and local communities, in the actions referred to in paragraphs 70 and 72 of this decision; https://redd.unfccc.int/fact-sheets/safeguards.html
6. UNFCCC Cancun Safeguard 5: That actions are consistent with the conservation of natural forests and biological diversity, ensuring that the actions referred to in paragraph 70 of this decision are not used for the conversion of natural forests, but are instead used to incentivize the protection and conservation of natural forests and their ecosystem services, and to enhance other social and environmental benefits, taking into account the need for sustainable livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities and their interdependence on forests in most countries, reflected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the International Mother Earth Day. https://redd.unfccc.int/fact-sheets/safeguards.html
7. UNFCCC Paris Agreement Article 6.1: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement

(References used in Paper) "Optimizing restoration: A holistic spatial approach to deliver Nature’s Contributions to People with minimal tradeoffs and maximal equity"

9. J. T. Erbaugh et al., Global forest restoration and the importance of prioritizing local communities. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 4, 1472–1476 (2020).

10. H. W. Fischer, A. Chhatre, A. Duddu, N. Pradhan, A. Agrawal, Community forest governance and synergies among carbon, biodiversity and livelihoods. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 1340–1347 (2023).