As companies seek and are required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s carbon markets are expanding. A government-run program in the Amazon rainforest in northwestern Brazil transforms forest carbon value into public wealth by focusing on labor rather than land rights. In the Brazilian state of Acre, some of the revenue from carbon credits is distributed to rural laborers and family farmers without land rights. A Dartmouth study just published examines Acre’s forest carbon program, and the benefits and risks associated with this approach, including the potential impact on labor, state power and efforts to prevent deforestation. The study’s findings are published in the Journal of Peasant Studies.