"The Brazilian Federal Police arrested people and seized assets linked to some of the country’s largest carbon credit projects.

According to the investigators, the group was running land-grabbing and timber laundering crimes in the Amazon for more than a decade and profiting millions of dollars.

The projects were exposed at the end of May in a one-year investigation published by Mongabay, which showed links between the REDD+ projects and an illegal timber scam.

Authorities and experts hope the findings will raise the bar for projects in the country and persuade lawmakers to create strict rules for the Brazilian carbon market, which is now under discussion."

Fernanda Wenzel reports for Mongabay June 7, 2024. [2]