Carbon-credit registry Verra has approved its first-ever government-led forest carbon programme at a provincial scale, located in the Province of Misiones, Argentina. The initiative is registered under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Programme’s Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) Framework, marking a significant structural milestone for international carbon markets and subnational climate finance.
Unlike traditional carbon projects that operate on localized boundaries, jurisdictional REDD+ frameworks credit verified emission reductions across an entire state or province. The Misiones programme operates specifically under Scenario 2 of Verra’s JNR Framework, which enables a government to generate carbon credits for forest zones not covered by pre-existing private projects. Under this mechanism, any local independent projects must “nest” within the government’s overarching baseline to ensure accurate, non-duplicated accounting of emission reductions. Misiones is the first programme globally to secure certification through this pathway.
Managed directly by the Government of the Province of Misiones, the conservation programme encompasses approximately 3 million hectares of native Atlantic Forest in northeastern Argentina. During its initial six-year baseline period spanning 2017 to 2022, the subnational framework generated approximately 13.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in verified emission reductions.
The certification is the result of long-term legal and technical coordination across provincial ministries, commercial market actors, and the programme’s independent validation and verification body (VVB). The approval demonstrates the capacity of subnational governments to establish rigorous regulatory structures capable of participating in institutional carbon markets while advancing public environmental policy.
Mandy Rambharos, Chief Executive Officer of Verra, commented on the approval: “This programme shows what’s possible when governments lead on climate. Misiones built the institutions, the policies, and the partnerships needed to protect its forests and bring the results of that work to market. This is what success looks like when public policy and carbon markets work together.”
Adolfo Safrán, Minister of Finance, Treasury, Public Works and Public Services for the Province of Misiones, highlighted the fiscal and social strategy behind the programme: “We celebrate having reached such an important milestone in conservation. The Province of Misiones has always made the protection of the rainforest a state policy. Our benefit distribution mechanism will allow us to return to the community the effort made over decades. We invite qualified investors interested in high-quality credits to come forward and support us in this initiative.”
The regulatory approval is expected to stimulate the development of parallel programmes under the VCS JNR Framework across alternative Argentinian provinces and within forested nations across Latin America, Africa, and Asia exploring sovereign climate finance. Industry analysts view the Misiones framework as a replicable blueprint for national and subnational administrations attempting to align statutory conservation mandates with global carbon asset markets.
The credit batches have been formally listed as active and registered within the centralized Verra Registry.
