Results-Based Payments and Benefit-Sharing Mechanisms in REDD+ Carbon Finance

Abstract Results-based payments (RBPs) are central to REDD+’s promise: pay for verified emission reductions and thereby create incentives to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Translating RBPs into local and national benefits requires deliberate benefit-sharing mechanisms (BSMs) that allocate financial and non-financial returns among governments, subnational institutions, communities and other stakeholders. This review synthesizes conceptual frameworks, empirical evidence and policy practice (2015–2025) on RBPs and BSMs in REDD+. Sections cover (1) the architecture of RBPs; (2) BSM design types and principles; (3) empirical evidence on distributional and behavioral outcomes; (4) institutional, legal and political economy constraints (carbon rights and nesting); (5) operational lessons from country cases and pilots; and (6) policy recommendations and research gaps. The overall finding is that RBPs can be effective when combined with robust MRV, clear legal frameworks for carbon claims, transparent and conditional BSMs, and institutional arrangements that sustain local incentives — but outcomes are highly context dependent and require careful design to avoid inequitable or perverse results. Keywords: REDD+; Results-Based Payments (RBPs); Benefit-Sharing Mechanisms (BSMs); Forest Carbon Finance; Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV); Carbon Rights and Claims; Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+; Institutional Design; Equity and Incentives