Optimal biomass allocation between forestry sinks and energy systems by an integrated modelling approach – decarbonization pathways for Hungary

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the study of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems in DRC. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Research on carbon sequestration in DRC's forests underscores their crucial role as significant carbon sinks. These forests store substantial amounts of carbon in biomass and soils, contributing significantly to global climate regulation efforts. However, challenges like deforestation and illegal logging threaten this capacity, highlighting the importance of sustainable forest management and conservation. Enhancing carbon sequestration in DRC's forests is essential for mitigating climate change impacts and preserving biodiversity. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Ecological succession theory, resource allocation theory & social-ecological systems theory may be used to anchor future studies on the study of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems in DRC. Encourage the adoption of sustainable forestry practices that enhance carbon sequestration while supporting biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods. Align forest management policies with national and international climate change mitigation goals, emphasizing the role of forests as natural carbon sinks.

Economics of carbon sequestration in community forests: Evidence from REDD+ piloting in Nepal

This paper examines the potential role of carbon sequestration in forests under a range of exogenously chosen carbon price paths. The price paths were chosen to simulate several different climate change policies. The results indicate that global sequestration could range from 48-147 Pg C by 2105 for carbon prices ranging from $100 to more than $800 per t C by the end of the century. The timing of sequestration is found to be sensitive to the assumed carbon price path. Low initial carbon prices ($10 - $20 per t C in 2010) followed by rapid price increases, as might occur if policy makers try to stabilize future concentrations, suggest little, if any, sequestration during the next 20 years (-0.2 to 4.5 Pg C). If policy makers develop policies that support higher initial carbon prices, ranging from $75 to $100 per t C, 17 to 23 Pg C could be sequestered in forests over the next 20 years. Overall, our results indicate that forestry is not an efficient stopgap measure for long-term policy goals, but that it is instead an important longterm partner with other mitigation options.

The Kyoto Protocol allows the use of domestic forest carbon sequestration to offset emissions to a limited degree, while bioenergy as an unlimited emission reduction option receives substantial financial support in many countries. The primary objective of this study was to analyze (1) whether these limits on forest carbon sequestration would be binding, thereby leading to inefficient mitigation, and (2) the total potential effect of the protocol on the greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in the forest sector. A partial equilibrium model of the Norwegian forest sector was used to quantify the GHG fluxes in a base scenario with no climate policy, a Kyoto Protocol policy (KP policy), and a policy with no cap on forest carbon sequestration (FC policy), assuming that the policies apply the rest of the century. Carbon offsets are higher under the KP policy than in the base scenario and likewise higher than under the FC policy in the short run, but the KP policy fails to utilize the forest carbon sequestration potential in the long run as it provides considerably less incentives to invest in forestry than the FC policy. The KP increases the Norwegian forest sector’s climate change mitigation compared to no climate policy but less in the long run than a carbon policy with no cap on forest carbon credits.

四川省森林植被固碳经济价值动态

Society is increasingly turning attention toward greenhouse gas emission control with for example the Kyoto Protocol has entered into force. Since many of the emissions come from energy use, high cost strategies might be required until new technological developments reduce fossil fuel dependency or increase energy utilization efficiency. On the other hand biologically based strategies may be used to offset energy related emissions. Agricultural soil and forestry are among the largest carbon reservoirs on the planet; therefore, agricultural and forest activities may help to reduce the costs of greenhouse gas emission mitigation. However, sequestration exhibits permanence related characteristics that may influence this role. We examine the dynamic role of carbon sequestration in the agricultural and forest sectors can play in mitigation. A 100‐year mathematical programming model, depicting U.S. agricultural and forest sectoral activities including land transfers and greenhouse gas consequences is applied to simulate potential mitigation response. The results show that at low cost and in the near term agricultural soil and forest management are dominant sectoral responses. At higher prices and in the longer term biofuels and afforestation take over. Our results reveal that the agricultural and forest sector carbon sequestration may serve as an important bridge to the future helping to hold costs down until energy emissions related technology develops.

Forest management can significantly impact carbon sequestration, which has been a key focus of research topic in relation to climate change at various scales. Based on field data collected from old-growth forests and forest plantations in Lushuihe Forestry Bureau on Changbai Mountain in northeast China, we compared carbon pools of vegetation (arbor, shrub and herbage), woody debris (WD), and soil (0-100cm depth) among different types of forests. Our results showed that arbor carbon increased with the age of larch plantations on Changbai Mountain; however, soil carbon declined with age. WD stored more carbon than did shrub or herbage, especially in old-growth forests. Carbon sequestration in old-growth forests was higher than that in forest plantations. Carbon storage in 35-year-old plantations was about 220.83 Mg· ha <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> , still less than carbon storage in old-growth forests 341.27 Mg· ha <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> . Accordingly, we suggested that plantation rotation age should be lengthened to at least 35 years for maximizing forest carbon sequestration in the forest landscapes on Changbai Mountain.

This dissertation examines the impacts of energy and climate policies on the energy and forest sectors, focusing on the case of Finland. The thesis consists of an introduction article and four separate studies. The dissertation was motivated by the climate concern and the increasing demand for renewable energy. In particular, the renewable energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of the European Union were driving this work. In Finland, both forest and energy sectors are in key roles in achieving these targets. In fact, the separation between forest and energy sector is diminishing as the energy sector is utilizing increasing amounts of wood in energy production and as the forest sector is becoming more and more important energy producer. The objective of this dissertation is to find out and measure the impacts of climate and energy policies on the forest and energy sectors. In climate policy, the focus is on emissions trading, and in energy policy the dissertation focuses on the promotion of renewable forestbased energy use. The dissertation relies on empirical numerical models that are based on microeconomic theory. Numerical partial equilibrium mixed complementarity problem models were constructed to study the markets under scrutiny. The separate studies focus on co-firing of wood biomass and fossil fuels, liquid biofuel production in the pulp and paper industry, and the impacts of climate policy on the pulp and paper sector. The dissertation shows that the policies promoting wood-based energy may have unexpected negative impacts. When feed-in tariff is imposed together with emissions trading, in some plants the production of renewable electricity might decrease as the emissions price increases. The dissertation also shows that in liquid biofuel production, investment subsidy may cause high direct policy costs and other negative impacts when compared to other policy instruments. The results of the dissertation also indicate that from the climate mitigation perspective, perfect competition is the favored wood market competition structure, at least if the emissions trading system is not global. In conclusion, this dissertation suggests that when promoting the use of wood biomass in energy production, the favored policy instruments are subsidies that promote directly the renewable energy production (i.e. production subsidy, renewables subsidy or feed-in premium). Also, the policy instrument should be designed to be dependent on the emissions price or on the substitute price. In addition, this dissertation shows that when planning policies to promote wood-based renewable energy, the goals of the policy scheme should be clear before decisions are made on the choice of the policy instruments.

This paper examines forest management planning and its possible outcomes using linear programing (LP). More specifically, the most appropriate forest harvesting schedule was selected that can maximize the carbon sequestration in the current forest areas considering forest manager’s income. The LP model allows the managers to segment forests into cutting units under rotation basis logging activities. Through harvest prescription from LP, we derived the balanced age-class distribution that constitutes improved conditions for sustainable use of forest resource. However, the solutions from LP did not achieve normal forests with perfectly even aged distribution. Instead, it produced a left-skewed age-class distribution due to the cost restriction of management ruling out the achievement of a normal forest as an optimal solution. The results from our LP model also confirm that the forest management activities will enhance yearly carbon sequestration in forests for all scenarios compared to baseline, and the shorter rotation ages tend to call for more carbon sequestration and economic profit. However, it is difficult to ensure that 50 years rotation is the optimal rotation age for the target forests, since we do not consider the benefit of biodiversity conservation.

The formation of soil organic matter via humification of plant litter is important for long-term carbon sequestration in forests; however, whether soil fauna affects litter humification is unclear. In this study, we quantified the effects of soil fauna on the optical properties (i.e., ΔlogK and E4/E6) of the alkaline-extracted humic acid-like solutions of four foliar litters by removing soil fauna via litterbags with different mesh sizes in two subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests. Litterbags were collected at the leaf falling, budding, expanding, maturation, and senescence stages from November 2013 to October 2015 to assess whether the effects of soil fauna on litter humification vary in different plant phenology periods. The results showed that soil fauna significantly reduced the ΔlogK and E4/E6 values in the leaf expanding stage of oak litter and in the leaf falling stage of camphor and fir litters. The richness index of soil fauna explained 21%, 55%, 19%, and 45% of the variations in the E4/E6 values for oak, fir, camphor, and pine litters, respectively. The effects of litter water content on these optical properties were greater than that of temperature. These results indicated that soil fauna plays a key role in litter humification in the leaf expanding and falling stages and are potentially involved in soil carbon sequestration in these subtropical forests.

IntroductionIn situ carbon sequestration in forests is important in the context of climate change mitigation, and setting aside managed forests has been proposed as an option for increased carbon sequestration. Comparing set-aside and managed forests may provide insights and rules of thumb on the potential for additional in situ carbon sequestration in set-aside forest.MethodsIn an observational study, we compared re-inventory data from the network of set-aside forest reserves in Flanders, which have been unmanaged for 17–66 years (2 surveys with a 10 years interval), with re-inventory data from the regional forest inventory, representing the overall forest area in Flanders (2 surveys with a 15 years interval).ResultsThe aboveground carbon pools and sequestration rates were higher in the set-aside forests compared to the average forest in Flanders. In the average Flemish forest, the aboveground carbon pool increased from 64.7 to 85.1 tC ha−1, over a period of 15 years. In the set-aside forests, the mean pool was higher at the first measurement and further increased from 84.8 to 102.4 tC ha−1, over a period of 10 years. The mean aboveground annual carbon sequestration rate was 1.3 tC ha−1 year−1 in the average forest in Flanders and 1.8 tC ha−1 year−1 in the set-aside forests. The stocks and fluxes depended on the soil conditions and were higher in set-aside forests on silt and sandy silt sites compared to wet and sand sites. The set-aside forests on dry sites showed additionality in in situ aboveground carbon sequestration. We saw no indication of approaching a culmination point in the first decades following set-aside: plots with high carbon pools did not show lower carbon sequestration. In conclusion, set-aside forests can combine high carbon pools with high sequestration rates on suitable sites. Under the current management policy, we expect Flemish forests—regular and set-aside—to further increase their carbon pools in the coming decades.

Based on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act passed in 2015 and the carbon neutral target in 2050, Taiwan will most likely follow international trends by imposing carbon taxes and establishing carbon offset markets. The positive and negative effects of carbon taxes and carbon offset markets on the economy and the environment merit further investigation. Accordingly, this study adopted a carbon emission reduction (CER) cost prediction model to assess the carbon abatement costs under three scenarios: (1) a carbon offset market exists, and forest carbon sequestration can be used as carbon offsets; (2) a carbon offset market exists, but forest carbon sequestration cannot be used as carbon offsets; and (3) a carbon offset market does not exist. Forests in Taipei (with low carbon emissions) and Kaohsiung (with high carbon emissions) were selected as research sites to explore the benefits of carbon emissions trading and forest carbon sequestration. The results show that CER costs are the lowest in scenario 1 and are the highest in scenario 3. The CER costs of Kaohsiung are higher than those of Taipei. The higher the carbon price, the greater the difference in CER costs between the two cities. Study Implications: The objective of this study was to identify the optimal policy for Taiwan to effectively slow climate change. This study showed that the opening of carbon offset markets and the use of forest carbon sequestration as carbon offsets may prompt regions to increase their forest stock to lower their emission reduction costs. However, achieving 2050 carbon neutral target by solely using forest carbon sequestration is not sufficient in Taiwan.

Estimates of carbon emissions from deforestation in Mexico are derived for the year 1985 and for two contrasting scenarios in 2025. Carbon emissions are calculated through an in-depth review of the existing information on forest cover deforestation mtes and area affected by forest fires as well as on forests' carbon-related biological characteristics. The analysis covers both tropical -- evergreen and deciduous -- and temperate -- coniferous and broadleaf -- closed forests. Emissions from the forest sector are also compared to those from energy and industry. Different policy options for promoting the sustainable management of forest resources in the country are discussed. The analysis indicates that approximately 804,000 hectares per year of closed forests suffered from major perturbations in the mid 1980's in Mexico, leading to an annual deforestation mte of 668,000 hectares. Seventy five percent of total deforestation is concentrated in tropical forests. The resulting annual carbon balance is estimated in 53.4 million tons per year, and the net committed emissions in 45.5 million tons or 41% and 38%, respectively, of the country's total for 1985--87. The annual carbon balance from the forest sector in 2025 is expected to decline to 16.5 million tons in the low emissions scenario and to 22.9 million tons in the high emissions scenario. Because of the large uncertainties in some of the primary sources of information, the stated figures should be taken as preliminary estimates.

The many opportunities for mitigating atmospheric carbon emissions in developing countries include reforesting degraded lands, implementing sustainable agricultural practices on existing lands and slowing tropical deforestation. This analysis shows that over the next 10 years, 48 major tropical and subtropical developing countries have the potential to reduce the atmospheric carbon burden by about 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon. Given a central price of $10 per tonne of carbon and a discount rate of 3%, this mitigation would generate a net present value of about $16.8 billion collectively for these countries. Achieving these potentials would require a significant global effort, covering more than 50 million hectares of land, to implement carbon-friendly practices in agriculture, forest and previously forested lands. These estimates of host-country income potentials do not consider that outside financial investment may or may not be available. Our calculations take no account of the additional benefits of carbon sequestration in forest soils undergoing reforestation, increased use of biomass and reduced use of fossil-fuel inputs and reduced agricultural emissions. In all events, realizing these incomes would necessitate substantially greater policy support and investment in sustainable land uses than is currently the case.

Objectives: China is a large country of tobacco production and consumption. In the construction and development of carbon market, the tobacco industry is expected to realizing energy conservation and emission reduction by participating in carbon trading, especially focusing on the forest carbon sequestration demand based on emissions reduction. Compared with the tobacco industry, the heavy pollution industries participate in the carbon market more deeply and widely. Therefore, this paper takes thermal power and steel industries as the research object, in order to provide some implications for the emission reduction path of tobacco industry. It considers the CO2 emissions intensity and marginal abatement costs (MAC) between China’s thermal power and steel industries during 2005–2017, and quantifies the forest carbon sequestration (FCS) demand level of these two industries to account for the role and potential of the forests for China’s green and low-carbon development. Methods: It uses a logistic algorithm to reflect the relationship among FCS demand, MAC and other influencing factors, and the cloud model to simulate FCS demand in different scenarios. Results: It shows an average decline of 54.06% and 56.05% in the carbon intensity of the two industries over the period. The average annualMAC are 11.82–25.55 CNY/ton across pilots, while the annual FCS demand expectation is 35 and 45 million tons for the thermal power and steel industries, respectively. If the MAC increases by 10%, the annual FCS demand will increase to 90 and 50 million tons, respectively. Other factors such as the prices of carbon emissions rights, carbon emission quotas, and industry output show little effect on FCS demand. Conclusion: The economic and technological efficiency of emissions reduction in different industries should be considered comprehensively, and that the consumer to producer subsidy for FCS in the carbon market should be adjusted for resource distribution optimization. This would promote emissions reduction, stimulate FCS demand, and improve the carbon market mechanism.