Our Work
Latham Advises on Landmark Forest Protection Funding in Africa
November 14, 2025
Cross-border team represents the nonprofit transactions platform in a landmark agreement for high-integrity carbon credits.
In December 2023, a multi-disciplinary, multi-office Latham team advised Emergent as it entered into first-ever agreements with forest-rich host governments to supply emission-reduction credits to buyers in the public and private sectors. The following year, the Brazilian state of Pará became the first government in the Amazon basin to secure forest protection funding from the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition, with the signing of a landmark deal worth up to US$180 million.
This week, Côte d’Ivoire signed a purchase agreement with Emergent worth up to US$23 million to commercialize high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions and removals, issued under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Standard. The agreement, negotiated between Côte d’Ivoire’s Carbon Markets Office and Emergent, covers the sale of excess emissions reductions and removals generated by the jurisdictional-scale Emission Reductions Program around Taï National Park.
Through the LEAF Coalition, Emergent initiates forestry projects in developing countries that generate carbon credits for sale in global markets. LEAF Coalition has become one of the largest ever public-private efforts to help protect tropical forests, to benefit the communities who depend on them, and to support sustainable development, a critical requirement of the journey to global net zero carbon emissions. To date, more than 30 corporations and the governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Republic of Korea are involved in LEAF Coalition.
Latham has been advising Emergent since 2019, with more than 25 lawyers across offices in the US, the UK, the EU, and Asia. The team involved in this most recent deal included partner JP Brisson and associates Jim Lambert, Qingyi Pan, and Georgia Bellett.
This week, Côte d’Ivoire signed a purchase agreement with Emergent worth up to US$23 million to commercialize high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ emission reductions and removals, issued under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Standard. The agreement, negotiated between Côte d’Ivoire’s Carbon Markets Office and Emergent, covers the sale of excess emissions reductions and removals generated by the jurisdictional-scale Emission Reductions Program around Taï National Park.
Through the LEAF Coalition, Emergent initiates forestry projects in developing countries that generate carbon credits for sale in global markets. LEAF Coalition has become one of the largest ever public-private efforts to help protect tropical forests, to benefit the communities who depend on them, and to support sustainable development, a critical requirement of the journey to global net zero carbon emissions. To date, more than 30 corporations and the governments of Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Republic of Korea are involved in LEAF Coalition.
Latham has been advising Emergent since 2019, with more than 25 lawyers across offices in the US, the UK, the EU, and Asia. The team involved in this most recent deal included partner JP Brisson and associates Jim Lambert, Qingyi Pan, and Georgia Bellett.