Valuing carbon sequestration benefits: an application to hoop pine plantations in north Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A timber plantation carbon modelling procedure consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Australian greenhouse gas accounting methodologies is described with an application to hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) on the southern Atherton Tablelands of north Queensland, Australia. We also compare the private financial performance (timber value only) and economic performance (timber plus carbon values) of hoop pine plantations. The carbon sequestration value of hoop pine on high quality sites is found to increase social returns to plantation investment substantially above private returns, but it only marginally expands the range of site qualities over which plantations are socio-economically justified. Despite the long rotation of hoop pine (45 years), economic performance is found to be sensitive to carbon modelling parameters, including the decay rate of long-life wood products. This suggests that research effort to quantify these parameters more precisely is warranted.