Forest-based carbon credits have had a rough couple of years. Numerous academic studies and media investigations have unearthed vastly inflated carbon savings and failed safeguards for forest communities amongst the world’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects, which boast a quarter of all carbon credits to date. However, a new peer-reviewed Nature study by 27 researchers across 11 institutions including the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the University of Columbia, has backed the industry’s scientific credentials: out of all the world’s nature-based climate solutions, the paper found that the four leading forest-based solutions have robust scientific foundations, while the others need urgent additional research before their role as a climate solution is understood. The study explicitly looked at the scientific basis of, and expert confidence in, the world’s known nature-based solutions (NBSs); rather than the implementation of individual projects, carbon crediting methodologies or co-benefits.