| Source From JG-TC.com |
With the development of voluntary carbon markets and consideration of federal climate change legislation in 2009, the issue of carbon credits for forest landowners is increasingly important.
A large segment of Farm Bureaus members are private landowners who could earn carbon sequestration revenues by improving the management of their forests, replanting trees on previously cleared areas, storing carbon in long-lived wood products, or planting new trees on their property. Certain croplands and grasslands might also be eligible to earn carbon sequestration credits; although, forest lands have the potential to sequester more carbon.
Forests are major sources of carbon sequestration in the United States. According to a Congressional Research Service report, forests store about 45 percent of terrestrial carbon and were estimated to sequester 2.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year in the 1990s, or about one-third of annual man-made carbon emissions from fossil fuel and land use changes. Additionally, wood products serve as storage for carbon. Although the forest and wood products industries play vital roles in maintaining the current carbon balance, they could see additional opportunities through green house gas (GHG) reduction plans.
The 111th Congress will debate climate change legislation over the next two years. This legislation may include an offsets title in order to minimize costs to consumers, generate additional income streams for the agricultural and forestry sector, and broaden the constituency of climate change supports. Entities required to reduce their GHG emissions could pay farmers and foresters to reduce GHG emissions through offset projects until reduction technology is commercially viable.
One study estimated that US forestry projects could sequester more than 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide at a carbon price of $5 per ton or as much as 1,200 million metric tons carbon dioxide at $50 per ton carbon price.
In the U.S., the voluntary Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), offers several forestry offset programs. Project participants agree to long-term, legally-binding contracts based on rules promulgated by the CCX. Although these projects must be certified and verified by a third party aggregator, they are not universally acknowledged as real offsets.
Developing forestry projects are also popular sources of international offsets in the European Unions Emission Trading Scheme and the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.
Despite the vast carbon storage potential, domestic forestry carbon offsets are not universally supported. Opponents of these offsets argue that the emissions reduced, avoided or sequestered must be greater than
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Save Carbon By Using Wood « Project Purify Blog
on Jul 16th, 2009
@ 7:30 am:
[...] by projectpurify in Uncategorized. Leave a Comment You can sequester some carbon yourself by buying durable products made from wood: Forests are major sources of carbon sequestration in the United States. According to a [...]
My Farm Journal
on Jul 25th, 2009
@ 6:35 am:
Interesting post. As a farmer, I’m concerned that if 40 million acres of crop and pasture land are converted to trees, feed crop prices would rise, ultimately resultinging in higher costs for me to raise livestock than the offset amount I would recieve for growing trees. Also, would this artifically increase food prices at the grocery for consumers? With the decreased corn production from growing trees where corn used to grow – would gasoline prices rise due to shortages in ethanol? What are your thoughts? Thanks
Don Pratt
on Jul 27th, 2009
@ 8:20 am:
Trees are not carbon. Trees have carbon trapped in them. Most of this trapped carbon will be released as CO2 following burning or decay. Carbon credits should only be allocated when the trees are converted to carbon, e.g. charcoal, and rendered unusable as a fuel. Anything else is a sham. To use good farmland to persue these greed driven projects should be stopped. President Obama will not stand for this. Please write to him.