Forests and Climate Change

Environmental Integrity Pushed Further Out of Reach from Copenhagen?

2009-11-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

The UN Barcelona Climate Talks have changed the whole game of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations on land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) for the worse - in particular the rules on whether and how developed countries will have to account for emissions from forest management.

The session started with a draft text from Bangkok that is very far from agreement. I think it is fair to say that there are four major areas that are most central to a new set of rules:

The basic form of accounting: it seems almost certain now to be going towards the use of some kind of reference level to measure changes in emissions - this is one of the two biggest issues: how do you set the reference level?
A limit on the amount of credits (from reducing emissions / increasing removals) that can be used towards meeting a country's national target - this is the other big issue;
Whether and how emissions from natural disturbances can be excluded from accounting - this is a prerequisite to several countries agreeing to account for forest management, principally Canada, Australia, and Russia;
Whether 'activities' such as 'forest management,' 'deforestation,' and 'cropland management' remain the basis for accounting or whether there is a switch to account for emissions/removals from all managed lands - this is seen as all as the proper goal of accounting but seems to still be largely on the table at this point as a negotiating tool (most believe it is too early to make this transition due to data limitations);

It's the negotiations on the first point that took a wild turn at these talks - there weren't really any. Countries had been saying that these major issues would need to be resolved at Barcelona so they could bring their estimates of emissions and credits/debits to the Copenhagen talks. Instead of settling the crucial issue of how to set a reference level, all countries have been invited to use whatever approach they like and bring the number in December!

The details can be found on page 9 of the new draft text (paragraph 11). Whether the reference level is based on just historical data, or also on a suite of other considerations (including 'projected forest management activities,' which everyone understands can mean an increase in harvest levels). Also an option is creating a big 'band' of non-accounting where countries can hide emissions (paragraph 11 ter). Also an option is jigging the reference level so it delivers the same amount of credits as the existing rules, which all regard as flawed. It's a mess.

The bigger mess is still to come in Copenhagen when every developed country brings a reference level based on any combination of these considerations, using different methodologies and providing whatever data they like to support them. The negotiation has now deteriorated from a discussion of principles to a haggling over opaque numbers.

Step two of this process will likely be negotiating country-specific limits to accompany each reference level. The talk from both developed and developing countries seems to be converging on the idea that developed countries tell the world how many credits they hope to get from forest management and get capped there - that way there are no surprises.

Let me translate that for you in a scary way: Each developed country tells you what its baseline will be; and each developed country tells you how many credits it's going to get. You should see that defining both of these things makes whatever outcome you desire a certainty. No debits and credits for everyone!! The fears of developing countries are assuaged because they know exactly what to expect and can adjust their demands for overall reduction targets accordingly.

...but environmental integrity in accounting for emissions from forest management will have been lost.

From Bad to Worse

2009-11-05T14:21:00.001-08:00

There was a major development today at the UN Barcelona Climate Change Talks on land use, land-use change and forestry: developed countries are being invited to bring whatever reference level they like to Copenhagen for consideration.

This is a major failing of the process and of the developed countries that should have been showing leadership. The current draft rules for setting reference levels include several loopholes tailored to the national circumstances of many developed countries and designed to allow the hiding of emissions.

Rather than fixing the text, the UN process has now invited the same Parties to use any of these loopholes they like. As a result, we will have to try to win environmental integrity through a dissection and fight over the reference levels of over 30 countries.

Unless things change quickly tomorrow, our hopes for a system with environmental integrity will lie in a staggering analytical capacity, hard campaigning, and deft negotiating from developing countries to push the genie back into the bottle in Copenhagen after seeing the numbers and strike a deal for a system with integrity.

This is what happens when you stick people in a corner to talk to themselves

2009-11-04T13:45:00.001-08:00

I was having a conversation today with an industrialized country delegate who was apologizing for not being a forester and therefore not really getting all of the intricacies and complexities and rationales of forest management carbon accounting.

I replied, "So, if you're not a forester, doesn't it seem strange to you that the rules have to be designed to ensure there is no negative impact on the forest sector for cutting trees? Why should the forest sector be the only one who should choose whether or not to reduce emissions rather than be forced to?"

The answer was telling and was something that I have often lamented: it's a structural problem resulting from the special status that this sector has - from the beginning it was an add-on with its own set of rules. What that has meant in practice is most decision-makers don't get it or try to, so it is delegated to the technical experts. What do you expect to happen when you ask a bunch of foresters to come up with rules for the forest sector? Or as this person put it, "If you stick a bunch of people in the corner of the room to talk to each other they will come up with funny ideas."

The ideas in this case are shameful: a set of draft rules that openly excuses all responsibility for emissions. Of all other sectors in this process we are demanding transformative change. In the forest sector we are demanding nothing. In fact we are doing worse than this - we are telling countries that if they like they can make things worse.

We are demanding emission reductions of 40% or more from industrialized countries. What are we demanding of the forest sectors in these countries? At most we are asking them to continue business-as-usual. If they do better we give them credits.

The only hope at this point is that developing countries negotiate hard on this. They are currently asking for the same thing we are: accountability for changes in emissions from 1990. I'm hoping we will see a new statement from them in the next couple of days.

Which loophole is the smallest?

2009-11-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

It was a discouraging first day for me at the UN Barcelona Climate Change Talks (it was only one day - it already feels like a week!?).

I spent the day with pledges in the inside pocket of my suit, ever ready to take the name and signature of a country representative that was ready to commit to making forests count: agree that we should account for actual changes in emissions resulting from logging. Coming across people willing to commit to this idea was the exception, finding people to explain their preferred method for avoiding this full accounting was the norm.

I contributed to an article (LULUCF Follies)in the Climate Action Network's daily newsletter, ECO, describing the cancer that is taking over the negotiations; here's an excerpt: "It’s a little hard to believe, but the positions taken by many Annex 1 negotiators [industrialized countries] effectively define their preferred management choices as carbon-neutral, regardless of what emissions actually are. In this fantasy world, you incur no debits for a ‘business-as-usual’ policy of cutting forests at age 50 even if most of the national forest estate is now 49 years old and you’re about to cut it all down. Nor do you receive debits for stepping up forest harvest to produce bioenergy. But the atmosphere sees increased emissions from both these changes!”

I'm not sure what is more troubling: the number of these alarming proposals or the number of people that don't seem alarmed by them. One negotiator observed that this is perfectly okay as long as you set the national emission reduction target with the knowledge that you are excluding these emissions. Another hopefully offered that I should consider which of the many proposed loopholes being brought forward is the smallest, and side with that one.

With champions from industrialized countries increasingly hard to find, could it be that the developing world could save the day here? They are now engaging in negotiations and presenting a concern for environmental integrity and there is certainly a limit to their patience for the indulgences of industrialized countries. But where will that limit be found? It seems likely that a Barcelona outcome will be the presentation of a choice to be made in Copenhagen at the political level.

...that is if there is an outcome from Barcelona on forests: today's talks were cancelled because the Africa Group has apparently said that it would boycott all further sessions until progress is made on an emission reduction target for industrialized countries.

EU Solidifying Role as Bad Guy in UN Forest Climate Talks

2009-10-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

For those of us trying to make sure countries have to account for emissions from cutting forests in the Copenhagen climate agreement, the European Union has been the cause of quite a bit of concern and consternation over the past year. There is a split between those countries who think any change in emissions should be counted for (e.g. France, Germany, U.K.) and those that don't (e.g. Finland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Austria). Thus, the EU has been divided and unable to take a strong position.

Earlier this week the EU Council met to define its position for the Copenhagen Climate Talks. Bad news. Those hoping that the EU could still be a progressive voice on this issue have to redouble their efforts. The EU has decided it must be conscious that some countries may need flexibility in determining the baseline against which emissions in the commitment period will be determined - translation: the EU is opening the door for countries who want to increase their emissions but erase them from the books through creative accounting.

The offending text is pasted below:
33. RECOGNIZES that future accounting rules for forest management should provide an adequate balance between further incentives for sequestration, for use of wood products and for biomass energy; STRESSES the need for future accounting rules to secure that the environmental integrity of a Copenhagen agreement is preserved; ACKNOWLEDGES that there are still difficulties associated with methodologies for measuring and predicting LULUCF GHG flows with a high degree of accuracy; WELCOMES further discussions with other Parties on accounting rules for forest management where the EU is open to discuss schemes based on the use of a reference level (bar), which includes an environmentally robust interval (band) while being CONSCIOUS that national circumstances, such as age class legacy effects, may require some flexibility for countries regarding the choice of reference level including allowing for historic data or robust and transparent projections open to independent review and verification; the use of gross-net accounting with a discount could also be considered in these discussions; CONSIDERS that accounting rules need to deal with emissions and removals associated with extreme events (force majeure) to reduce the risk that Parties cannot comply with their mitigation objectives because of such events. CONSIDERS that subject to such flexibility being provided for, accounting for forest management should become mandatory for all Parties taking on quantified commitments in a Copenhagen agreement.

New Draft Rules on Forestry and Land Use

2009-10-08T21:09:00.001-07:00

A new draft text on rules for accounting for emissions from forestry and land use has come out of the Bangkok Climate Change Talks. The changes in the text are mostly the result of work that has been done between developed countries on the rule changes they want to see.

It's not pretty.

On the main issue of how to measure performance, the text is still overflowing with the pet loopholes of each country, engineered to erase any emissions that the atmosphere sees from logging.

It appears that there are special LULUCF glasses that negotiators wear to make this distorted stuff seem reasonable. Here is an example of the kind of things you hear in the hallways to rationalize it:

But if we account for the emissions from logging, there will be no incentive for bioenergy (because countries like to falsely assume that it is carbon neutral);
We shouldn't account for emissions from logging because we do sustainable forest management (and that's relevant how?)!;
We can't account for changes in emissions because we plan on increasing logging levels!;\

There are a couple of other significant changes to the text:

Developed countries have mostly agreed how they would account for carbon stored in wood products. I've never felt this was a good idea, but the text does have some reasonable safeguards in it - but not yet good enough!
Australia, the EU and Canada have come up with a combined proposal for how to remove emissions from fires and other natural disturbances from the accounts. They are still in disagreement about whether to exclude all emissions or only the biggest, extraordinary events -- significantly there is still a huge loophole in this idea: there is no accountability for countries if they salvage log these areas - a significant extra source of emissions!

A number of countries have said that they want the rules settled by Barcelona (the meeting in November) so their implications on country emission reduction targets can be clear in time for the final deal in Copenhagen. I hope they get their wish.

China and the Group of 77 Developing Countries Draw a Line in the Sand

2009-10-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

The doors opened up today on the forestry and land use negotiations at the Bangkok Climate Change Talks! For the first time at this conference, observers were able to hear the positions of delegates and for the first time this week we heard the position from China and the Group of 77 Developing Countries.

After nearly two years of developed countries discussing different options for rule changes for this sector, and not getting much farther than more clearly articulating the options that suit each country best, G77 and China said enough is enough and drew a line in the sand:

Negotiations on this must be done by Barcelona (the next session in November);
All accounting should be mandatory;
All developed countries should use the same simple rules to account for forest; management: compare emissions in the commitment period with emissions in 1990;
Put a cap on credits from the entire sector (cropland management, grazing land management, revegetation, forest management, afforestation, reforestation, deforestation);

Developing countries sent the signal that they are through listening to specific proposals for adjustments to meet the circumstances of each country so they can generate credits from this sector, and I think it's the perfect time for this message.

If I were to change the proposal I'd say that a base period could be used, rather than a hard base year that could create strange and unfair results due to the annual variability in the forest management sector. I'd also try to do something to fix the problem of extraordinary natural disturbances that create a compliance risk for countries. But all in all, this statement was exactly what the negotiations needed!

You can check out my live tweets as the meeting unfolded by following biocarbonman on twitter!

Storm brewing in forestry and land use negotiations

2009-10-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

We've been getting little peeks and rumours about the revised draft text on Land use, land-use change and forestry that developed countries are working on. It may come out tomorrow or maybe Thursday. Sounds like developed countries have figured out amongst themselves how they want to account for wood stored in harvested wood products and are making progress on how to remove the effects of big natural disturbances like fires from the forest carbon accounts.

The biggest and most troubling news is that they are compiling a new option on how to account for changes in forest management emissions. From what I hear it sounds like all the loopholes any country could want cooked up into a couple of paragraphs. It will be interesting to see how China and other developing countries respond to this game.

You can read an article I wrote about one of these loopholes in Climate Action Network's ECO Newsletter yesterday; it's called Show Us the Emissions!

You can also watch today's media conference by CAN. From 10:10 - 15:50, Jeff Fiedler of The Nature Conservancy talks about this issue as well.

Backroom LULUCF Negotiations Continue

2009-10-05T00:52:00.000-07:00

We woke up in Bangkok this morning to oppressive heat and the expectation of a new draft text agreement on the rules for forestry and land use under a revised Kyoto Protocol...but that didn't happen!

Parties continue behind closed doors to come up with the next version. We've been hearing that there is convergence around a number of the key issues but the most important question remains: what are the baselines against which performance is judged. Some developed countries are still trying to create what I think amounts to a meaningless accounting framework: they will tell the world what they expect their emissions to be from forest management in the future and only be punished if they perform worse than this. Countries should take responsibility for any increase in emissions from past levels. What is this whole process about if not about reducing emissions from the past?

Update from UN Bangkok Forestry and Land Use Negotiations

2009-10-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

We just had a briefing with the Chair and vice-Chair of the negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol and the co-chairs of the negotiations on land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).

The formal work on LULUCF is focusing on two tasks:

Trying to reduce the number of options in the draft text of the agreement on accounting rules;
Countries are presenting forest data to explain their national circumstances and why they are interested in the options they are supporting.

Parallel to this, countries that have put forward specific proposals on key issues are meeting together to see if they can come to an agreement between them; this agreement would then be forwarded to the larger group. The issues are: reference levels (against which performance will be compared); harvested wood products; the impact of natural disturbances; cross-cutting issues and "other accounting options."

The big problem for those trying to observe and hold this process accountable is that ALL of these negotiations are being held behind closed doors.

Rather than behind closed doors, some were making their case very clearly out front of the main entrance of the conference centre: Protect Forests and Indigenous Peoples' Rights! The protest was organized by the International Youth Delegation.

Photo credit: Joshua Kahn Russell, Rainforest Action Network

Make Forests Count!

2009-09-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

CPAWS launched its Make Forests Count campaign yesterday (makeforestscount.org). The purpose is to build some public momentum behind a global climate agreement in Copenhagen that commits countries to protect forests and close loopholes in accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from forest and land use. Check it out, and make forests count by signing on!

Forest Negotiations Begin at Bangkok Climate Change Talks

2009-09-29T01:41:00.000-07:00

The first closed-door session on accounting rules for forests and land use is now underway at Bangkok. There will be six negotiating sessions here over the next couple of weeks. It is widely felt that negotiators will be under pressure to make real progress here - without clear rules for how forest emissions affect the compliance of developed countries with emission reduction commitments, there can be no agreement.

At the opening session yesterday, the Chair of the negotiating process under the Kyoto Protocol cited three main issues of consequence:

How emissions from natural disturbances are dealt with;
The overall accounting approach for forest management and whether limits need to be placed on what countries can claim;
How carbon stored in harvested wood products are dealt with.

I have other questions: will there be a commitment to protecting reservoirs of GHGs in intact forests? Will the new rules make countries accountable or a will they create a new slush fund of credits that suit particular national circumstances?

A few parties have started posting their submissions for this session (Canada, Japan and New Zealand so far). These submissions are starting to be heavier on data, so people can see the possible implications of rule changes.

We Must Support Nature's Ability to Capture and Store Carbon: UN Report

2009-09-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Nature knows how to capture and store carbon and has been doing so effectively for mellenia. We need this capacity in order to help us resolve the climate crisis we have created. But a recent UNEP report asserts that "Currently the world’s ecosystems, instead of maintaining and enhancing nature’s carbon capture and storage capacity, are being depleted at an alarming rate.”
The report is a handy resource that summarizes the carbon capture and storage capacity of various natural and human-dominated ecosystems. The report is the latest publication to support and call for protection of carbon stores in natural ecosystems as a key climate change strategy.

It also contains a good summary of the current treatment of terrestrial carbon within the Kyoto Protocol and of the trajectory of the current climate negotiations. Quite rightly, the report concludes that it is not yet at all certain that negotiations will lead to the comprehensive treatment that is required to seize the climate change mitigation opportunities presented by ecosystems.

The necessary elements of a solution are becoming increasingly clear to me:

An effective REDD mechanism must be put in place;
Countries need to affirm their commitment to protect reservoirs of greenhouse gases by agreeing to report their goals and progress to protect natural forests, wetlands and grasslands;
Developed countries need to accept accountability for greenhouse gas emissions from forest management and wetland management;
Changes in greenhouse gas emissions from forest management and wetland management must be measured against historic levels;

One Year Anniversary of the Forests and Climate Change Blog!

2009-08-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

July 30 was the first anniverary of the Forests and Climate Change Blog! I hope to post again in the next few days, but until I do, I thought I would give a list of the three most visited posts over the past year:

No. 1: Defining Crazy LULUCF Terms: Gross-net and Net-net

No. 2: This is How Land Use Land-use Change and Forestry fit into Kyoto and the Global Climate Change Negotiations

No. 3: This is Why I Think We Shouldn't Count Carbon Stored in Harvested Wood Products

Any thoughts on what you found most interesting on this blog or in this field over the last year would be welcome as comments!

Woodland Creation Included in UK's Low Carbon Transition Strategy

2009-07-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

The UK has released its Low Carbon Transition Plan. The Plan plots out how the UK will meet the cut in emissions set out in the budget of 34% on 1990 levels by 2020.

The Plan includes strategies for reducing emissions from agriculture and waste as well a strategy for "protecting, managing and growing our forests." This latter strategy is actually focused solely on an initiative to support the creation of new woodlands. Here is an excerpt:

Protecting, managing, and growing our forests
In 2007, forests in England removed a net total of about 2.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This removal rate is declining, as forests planted in the 1950s to 1980s reach maturity. If woodland creation and removal continue at their 2007 rates, it will drop to around half a million tonnes per year by 2020, and if woodland creation stops entirely it will fall to only a hundred thousand tonnes.

Woodland creation is a very cost-effective way of fighting climate change over the long term, but it requires an upfront investment. The Government is already doing this: woodland creation represents 60% of the grant aid administered by the Forestry Commission. But to realise the potential for 2050, we need to see a big increase in woodland creation – and we need to plant sooner rather than later.

The Government will support a new drive to encourage private funding for woodland creation. If we could create an additional 10,000 hectares of woodland per year for 15 years, those growing trees could remove up to 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between now and 2050. Well-targeted woodland creation can also bring other benefits, including a recreational resource, employment opportunities, flood alleviation, improvements in water quality, and helping to adapt our landscapes to climate change by linking habitats to support wildlife. The Government will ensure that woodland creation policies continue to respect the benefits and demands of landscape, biodiversity and food security.

This will allow businesses and individuals to help the UK meet its carbon budgets, whilst delivering the other benefits that woodlands can bring. A number of informal schemes already exist, and the Government will work with them and with the private sector to consider how it can build on and complement existing initiatives. The Government is already laying the groundwork: including through the consultation on a Code of Good Practice for Forest Carbon Projects led by the Forestry Commission, and the Government consultation on corporate carbon reporting guidelines, which sets out how funding for domestic emissions reduction projects can be reported in company accounts.
Reference: The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan: National strategy for climate and energy. Chapter 7: Transforming farming and managing our land and waste sustainably. Page 160-161.

It's interesting that there is nothing in the plan for forest protection or management... perhaps this reflects the fact that only 7% of England is forested? (ref)

Breaking story - watch this footage on bioenergy clearcuts

2009-07-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

Perhaps not good form to do two blog posts in a day, but you should watch this news story before it comes down this evening: this is the first publicized example of the impact that a bioenergy market will have on Canadian forests, this time in Nova Scotia. Watch the CBC news for July 8 2009 starting at 34:09.

U.S. Defines Forest and Agriculture Carbon Offset Projects

2009-07-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

The American Clean Energy and Secrurity Act recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives provides an initial list of offset project types that would be eligible to sell credits into the cap-and-trade system.

It seems a rather broad list designed to encompass all activities. Rules are to be set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Section 503. List of Eligible Domestic Agricultural and Forestry Offset Practice Types.

“…(b) INITIAL LIST.—At a minimum, the list prepared under this section shall include those practices that avoid or reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester greenhouse gases, such as—

agricultural, grassland, and rangeland sequestration and management practices, including

a) altered tillage practices;

b) winter cover cropping, continuous cropping, and other means to increase biomass returned to soil in lieu of planting followed by fallowing;

c) reduction of nitrogen fertilizer use or increase in nitrogen use efficiency;

d) reduction in the frequency and duration of flooding of rice paddies;

e) reduction in carbon emissions from organic soils;

f) reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from manure and effluent; and

g) reduction in greenhouse gas emissions due to changes in animal management practices, including dietary modifications;

(2) changes in carbon stocks attributed to land-use change and forestry activities, including—

a) afforestation or reforestation of acreage that is not forested;

b) forest management resulting in an increase in forest carbon stores including but not limited to harvested wood products;

c) management of peatland or wetland;

d) conservation of grassland and forested land;

e) improved forest management, including accounting for carbon stored in wood products;

f) reduced deforestation or avoided forest conversion;

g) urban tree-planting and maintenance;

h) agroforestry; and

i) adaptation of plant traits or new technologies that increase sequestration by forests; and

(3) manure management and disposal, including—

a) waste aeration;

b) biogas capture and combustion; and

c) application to fields as a substitute for commercial fertilizer.”

American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009. AMENDMENT TO H.R. 2454, AS REPORTED OFFERED BY MR. PETERSON OF MINNESOTA (Page and line numbers refer to the file ACESFLl001 (HR 2998) on the Rules Committee website). Pages 15 – 17.

British Columbia Sets Very Low Standard for Forest Carbon Offsets

2009-06-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

The government of British Columbia in Canada has just released a draft forest carbon offset protocol for use in the province. The scope of eligibile activities is surprising and troubling:

Afforestation: increasing the size and number of BC forests by planting land that has not been forested since December 31, 1989;
Select Seed Use: planting seedlings selected for specific traits to promote faster growth, increased timber volume and carbon content, and resistance to insects and disease; and
Fertilization: adding nutrients to increase tree growth on sites deficient in one or more soil nutrients.

Afforestation is fine, but the other two activities will not yield benefits in the short-term and fertilization in particular will have negative environmental outcomes. Conspicuously absent are any forest management activities with environmental co-benefits. What about forest protection? What about lengthened rotation ages?

Also conspicuously absent is any test of the impact of projects on other environmental social values.

This protocol is out for comment until July 10. Please send in your comments!

Dealing with impermanence of forest carbon offsets

2009-06-26T07:28:00.001-07:00

The Canadian government released new draft details about the proposed federal offset system a couple of weeks ago. The guide includes the government's current thinking on how to deal with the impermanence of forest carbon offsets. Here it is:

"Biological sink projects carry a risk of carbon reversals, in which the sequestered carbon is released back into the atmosphere; for example, through forest fires or intentionally changing farm management practices. Since an offset credit must represent a permanent removal of carbon from the atmosphere, there must be a mechanism in place to address this risk of reversals.

The permanence of biological sink offset credits is ensured in the Offset System by requiring the replacement of credits in the event of a reversal anytime throughout the project’s registration periods and for a further 25-year liability period after the project’s final reporting period in its final registration period.

Furthermore, to address the risk that a Project Proponent may not be able to replace the credits when a reversal occurs, the Project Proponent is required to apply a discount factor to offset credits claimed for biological sink projects. The discount factor will be specified in the Offset System Quantification Protocol and will reflect the risk of defaulting on a replacement obligation for different project types. The Project Proponent will be required to replace credits if a reversal occurs any time during a 25-year liability period. Project Proponents are required to provide evidence to the Minister on a regular basis during the liability period and provide a certification statement that the sink has been maintained. However, verifications will not be necessary during the liability period." Page 27

My understanding is that the current draft of the Waxman-Markey Bill in the U.S. proposes instead to deal with impermanence through a 'buffer reserve' approach, which would set aside a percentage of each forest carbon offset...if the carbon is reversal is unintentionally, 50% could be covered by this reserve. I'm not sure what the liability period is.

Both these approaches differ from that used for afforestation projects within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which only issues temporary credits for forest projects. This seems the most robust approach, but it doesn't appear to be taken very seriously in any of the offset regimes that are under development... apparently because people doubt the market demand for temporary offsets.

Anybody know of any other approaches being considered out there?

Using cap-and-trade auction revenue to finance forest and peatland protection

2009-06-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

I posted a few days ago about a piece of legislation in the U.S. that aims to use government funds (from cap-and-trade auction revenues?) to finance the protection of forest carbon stocks.

What are other jurisdictions thinking about this? I'm reminded that the Western Climate Initiative Partners actually made a very concrete recommendation about using auction revenue set asides for 'forestry':

8.2. The WCI Partner jurisdictions agree that a portion of the value represented by each WCI Partner jurisdiction’s allowance budget (for example, through set-asides of allowances, a distribution of revenues from the auctioning of allowances, or other means) will be dedicated to one or more of the following public purposes which are expected to provide benefits region wide:

Energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives and achievement;
Research, development, demonstrations, and deployment (RDD&D) with particular reference to carbon capture & sequestration (CCS); renewable energy generation, transmission and storage; and energy efficiency;
Promoting emission reductions and sequestration in agriculture, forestry and other uncapped sources; and
Human and natural community adaptation to climate change impacts.

A couple of other examples...

The Province of Ontario's discussion paper on cap-and-trade references WCI's recommendation to use set asides to reduce emissions in uncapped sectors.
The EU Emission Trading Directive very strongly supports the use of at least 50% of auction revenues (and they intend auctioning to be the rule for distribution of allowances) for various uses aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change and funding adaptation. It also specifically mentions reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries, but does not specifically mention domestic forest programs.

It strikes me that the forest sector, especially forest protection, is an especially good fit for the use of set-asides:

The sector is not covered by the cap;
There are adaptation benefits as well as mitigation benefits (helping communities and biodiversity adapt to climate change through ecosystem protection);
Forest offsets present problems, like permanence, that other sectors don't present - so it should be a priority to get at this mitigation in another way.

What do others think? Does anyone have examples from other jurisdictions?

Watching U.S. Climate Bills - Money to Forest Carbon Protection

2009-06-18T10:00:00.001-07:00

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (The 'Waxman-Markey bill' (summary)) includes provisions to use 13% of money from allowance auction revenues to support additional investments in clean energy and energy efficiency. Although protecting forest carbon isn't included in this list, a parallel piece of legislation attempts to fix this: The Buy American Carbon Incentives Program of 2009. The aim of this bill is "to establish a carbon incentives program to achieve supplemental greenhouse gas emissions reductions on private agricultural and forestland of the United States, and for other purposes."

Funds would be delivered through climate mitigation contracts for activities that:

"measurably increase carbon sequestration and storage over a designated contract period through management activities on eligible lands; and
maintain carbon sequestration and storage and avoid future emissions through permanent avoided conversion agreements on eligible lands."

This scheme is complementary to offsets and projects/activities would not be eligible for both.

Any thoughts on this? Has this kind of thing been proposed in any other jurisdictions? I certainly think it would be a great policy option for Canada's federal and provincial governments: finance forest carbon protection through the use of auction revenue set asides from cap-and-trade systems.

Media article on forests and climate from Bonn Climate Change Talks

2009-06-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg published this article on the use of forests and land use to help meet national climate change mitigation commitments. Jeremy van Loon interviewed a number of delegates to the recent climate change talks in Bonn.

I think the article is helpful because it raises alarm about using false reductions in emissions from forests to undermine real action on climate change. I'd like to add some depth to the story by pointing out that this spectre is not created by land use accounting per se, but by the bad ideas dominating these talks. You can view a Climate Action Network presentation about this on the UN Climate Change Convention's website. Search for "Climate Action Network Canada" on Tuesday June 2 to find the presentation link.

For some thoughts on how the accounting for land use, land use change and forestry should be done, you can check out the CPAWS Kyoto Resources list. Most recent submissions/publications are at the bottom of the list.

Photo: This picture shows carbon emissions from both fossil fuels and deforestation!

Zero Sense - A forest carbon accounting proposal from the EU

2009-06-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

This is a reprint of an article written for Climate Action Network's newsletter ECO:

Zero Sense

The current LULUCF negotiations cause ECO to reflect on a question asked by some Parties with all seriousness: should a country be excused from accounting LULUCF debits from its national forest as long as it remains a sink? Isn’t it wrong to penalize a country as long as its forest is still removing CO₂ from the atmosphere, and therefore helping to mitigate climate change? Should we only assign LULUCF debits from forest management after the value of the forests sink becomes zero and it becomes a net source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?’ The answer to these questions must be no.

The issue is not whether a national forest is removing CO₂ from the atmosphere, but how much. Forests currently represent a large global sink, helping reduce the impact of fossil fuel emissions. A decline in the size of that sink would be of great concern.

Eco did an analysis[1]: what would be the effect if all Annex 1 Parties were allowed to reduce their forest sink to zero without accruing any LULUCF debits? The result speaks for itself: 2.4 billion tons of CO_2e[2] in lost sequestration without even a blip in any Party’s account; 2.4 billion tons of CO_2e that represent a net emission if not compensated by greater emission reductions elsewhere; 2.4 billion tons of CO_2e in lost sequestration that would be hidden behind a newly proposed LULUCF accounting rule called “the band from zero to the bar.”

[1] Using convention reporting data for all Annex 1 Parties from 1990 – 2006. 1990 was used as the default bar and 2002-2006 was used as a hypothetical commitment period.

[2] This corresponds to roughly four percent of total emission allowances for the first commitment period

Wake up call to countries trying to abuse forests

2009-06-03T13:48:00.001-07:00

At the Climate Change Talks in Bonn, some Parties are using the forest and land use negotiations to try to entrench a system that is designed to give them make-believe credits rather than actually reduce emissions. The European Union and Russia were today awareded a 'fossil' by the International Climate Action Network for a proposal that would allow countries to eradicate their forest sinks without having to account for it.

An article in the daily newsletter, ECO explains the dynamic well ("Just Imagine").

Discussion between Environmentalists and Governments

2009-06-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Climate Action Network just held a very successful 'side event' here at the Bonn Climate Change talks with roughly 60 people in attendance, most of them government representatives. Among those present were the US, Canada, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, Slovakia, The European Commission, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, Senegal, Bulgaria, the Holy See, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, etc.

The most lively discussion was a debate about whether countries should be excused from accounting any emissions from their forests as long as they remain net sinks. My view was, though these forests may still be helping with climate change as long as they remove carbon from the air, the governments owning these forests are not helping with climate change if their actions reduce the size of this sink (e.g. through accelerated harvest).

The presentation can be viewed online. Look for the June 2 event by Climate Action Network Canada.