Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets Research Articles

The Evolving Role of Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets in Combating Climate Change

The Evolving Role of Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets in Combating Climate Change

The Evolving Role of Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets in Combating Climate Change

The Evolving Role of Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets in Combating Climate Change

Feasibility of greenhouse gas emissions offsets for natural source zone depletion of petroleum hydrocarbons

AbstractHydrocarbon biodegradation is an important process for remediating petroleum hydrocarbons and managing large sites. However, this biodegradation results in what are essentially unavoidable CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. A feasibility assessment was conducted to quantitatively consider reuse options for petroleum brownfields that would offset contaminant respiration emissions rates in the 2 to 10 micromoles CO2 per meters squared per second (μmol CO2 m−2 s−1) typically observed. Under a wide range of solar resource scenarios, placement of solar panels over only a fraction (no more than 35%) of the site footprint is estimated as necessary to achieve an emissions offset. Similarly, placement of one 30‐meter tall wind turbine of moderate rating (approximately 30 to 50 kW) is sufficient to provide an offset for a nominal 1,000 square meters site. For spreading of spent calcium‐rich construction materials, under even a high emissions scenario, the required footprint for the offset is less than the site footprint. While these approaches appear feasible, revegetation as forestland is estimated as sufficient only at contaminant respiration rates up to 2 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. Revegetation as rangeland and cropland, which sequesters CO2 mainly in soil organic carbon, is estimated as requiring more than the site footprint under many contaminant respiration rates. Revegetation as a wetland fares slightly better from a carbon storage perspective, but it also has the potential for N2O and CH4 emissions that may largely undo the benefit from sequestration in soil organic matter. Overall, the results indicate several methods that are viable for achieving emissions offsets and a quantitation method that can be honed with site‐specific input parameters as appropriate.

Renewable Energy from Forest Residues—How Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets Can Make Fossil Fuel Substitution More Attractive

Burning forest biomass from renewable sources has been suggested as a viable strategy to help offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the energy generation sector. Energy facilities can, in principle, be retrofitted to produce a portion of their energy from biomass. However, supply uncertainties affect costs, and are an important impediment to widespread and sustained adoption of this strategy. In this paper, we describe a general approach to assess the cost of offsetting GHG emissions at co-generation facilities by replacing two common fossil fuels, coal and natural gas, with forest harvest residue biomass for heat and electricity production. We apply the approach to a Canadian case study that identifies the price of GHG offsets that could make the use of forest residue biomass feedstock attractive. Biomass supply costs were based on a geographical assessment of industrial harvest operations in Canadian forests, biomass extraction and transportation costs, and included representation of basic ecological sustainability and technical accessibility constraints. Sensitivity analyses suggest that biomass extraction costs have the largest impact on the costs of GHG emission offsets, followed by fossil fuel prices. In the context of other evaluations of mitigation strategies in the energy generation sector, such as afforestation or industrial carbon capture, this analysis suggests that the substitution of fossil fuels by forest residue biomass could be a viable and reasonably substantive short-term alternative under appropriate GHG emission pricing schemes.

Bioeconomic modelling of woody regrowth carbon offset options in productive grazing systems

Agricultural land has been identified as a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions offsets through biosequestration in vegetation and soil. In the extensive grazing land of Australia, landholders may participate in the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund and create offsets by reducing woody vegetation clearing and allowing native woody plant regrowth to grow. This study used bioeconomic modelling to evaluate the trade-offs between an existing central Queensland grazing operation, which has been using repeated tree clearing to maintain pasture growth, and an alternative carbon and grazing enterprise in which tree clearing is reduced and the additional carbon sequestered in trees is sold. The results showed that ceasing clearing in favour of producing offsets produces a higher net present value over 20 years than the existing cattle enterprise at carbon prices, which are close to current (2015) market levels (~$13 t–1 CO2-e). However, by modifying key variables, relative profitability did change. Sensitivity analysis evaluated key variables, which determine the relative profitability of carbon and cattle. In order of importance these were: the carbon price, the gross margin of cattle production, the severity of the tree–grass relationship, the area of regrowth retained, the age of regrowth at the start of the project, and to a lesser extent the cost of carbon project administration, compliance and monitoring. Based on the analysis, retaining regrowth to generate carbon income may be worthwhile for cattle producers in Australia, but careful consideration needs to be given to the opportunity cost of reduced cattle income.

Foreword for the Special Issue on Carbon Markets in Small-scale Forestry

Climate change is an issue of global concern. The international community has formed policies that establish market-based mechanisms as a principal means of achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and climate change mitigation. Carbon markets—markets associated with the trade of greenhouse gas emissions offsets and regulator-issued permits (mandatory/regulated and voluntary) to emit greenhouse gases—have thus evolved over the last 5 years to be large and important centres of economic activity. Forests feature prominently in carbon markets, primarily as sinks for the sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions and the production of tradeable carbon offsets. There is a great opportunity to use carbon offsets as a complementary source of financial returns to promote sustainable forest management—particularly in the context of small-scale forestry—and enhance livelihoods, rehabilitate ecosystem services and contribute to the development of communities more resilient to the effects of climate change. However, to date less than 1% of all carbon offset projects globally have involved forest management; most have involved making industrial processes cleaner or the development of renewable energy. This special issue of Small-scale Forestry presents research on some of the reasons for the dearth of small-scale forest-related carbon offset projects globally, and investigates the implications for improved carbon forestry policy. There are various factors constraining the development of more carbon forestry projects. Some relate to the administrative and technical difficulties involved with engaging in carbon markets. A complex policy malaise frames the way forests feature in carbon markets, with different rules and provisions made for how offsets can be generated through planted versus natural forests, and forests located in developing countries versus forests located in developed countries. Some of the papers in this special issue proffer frameworks and explanations about carbon

Opportunities for Small-Scale Forestry in Carbon Markets

This paper presents an explanatory framework of how greenhouse gas emissions offsets produced from natural and planted forests (‘carbon forestry’) feature in voluntary and regulated carbon markets. An introduction to the convoluted policy malaise surrounding the use of forests in regulated carbon markets is also presented. Whilst there are many opportunities and potential benefits of using forests to produce offsets, relatively few carbon forestry projects currently exist, particularly in regulated carbon markets. This seems due to financial, institutional and administrative obstacles, with prohibitive transaction costs often cited as the most prominent constraint to expanded carbon forestry development. The papers in this special issue present a wide coverage of carbon forestry development policy issues. The special issue provides a unique insight into the state of carbon forestry globally and highlights the pressing need for policy and market reform to facilitate more sustainable carbon forestry development.

A review of research on forest-related environmental markets (including certification schemes, bioenergy, carbon markets and other ecosystem services).

Abstract This review analyses the major themes extant across 199 research articles published in various peer-reviewed forestry and economics journals between January 2002 and June 2009 on the topic of forest-related environmental markets. The reviewed articles are categorized according to four areas of research: forest stewardship and sustainable supply chain certification; renewable energy generation from woody biomass; forest-based greenhouse gas emissions offsets and carbon markets; and ecosystem services from forests. Two key research questions are identified for future research: (1) how can certification schemes be used to promote ecologically and socially sustainable bioenergy generation from forest-related feed stocks and (2) how can certification schemes be used to promote ecologically and socially sustainable afforestation-based greenhouse gas emissions offsets that offer broader social and ecosystem benefits on appropriate regional scales?

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets from Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges

as the scientific evidence of global climate change continues to accumulate (IPCC, 007) and the predicted impacts of a warming planet become more widely known, national policies and international agreements designed to mitigate global warming have sought to strike a balance between environmental sustainability and economic achievement. Under the 997 Kyoto accord (hereafter “Kyoto”) a global framework for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to pre990 levels was developed that established binding emissions reduction targets and timetables for industrialized countries, and included flexibility provisions intended to reduce the overall cost of emissions reductions. Countries subject to emissions limits were free to decide how to reduce emissions to meet the established targets over the period 008– 0 . Countries could design their own domestic policies to meet their targets. Kyoto’s flexibility provisions allowed cooperation between industrialized countries to achieve emissions reductions through Joint Implementation and included the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to facilitate cooperation with developing nations that were not subject to binding emissions reductions. Despite the fact that not all countries ratified the 997 agreement, many countries, provinces, and states have, in the time since Kyoto, enacted policies individually or in cooperation to reduce GHG emissions. In addition to binding regulatory approaches taken by governments there has also been at least one similar voluntary initiative undertaken by the private sector in the form of the Chicago Climate exchange. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets from Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges

Implications of a Carbon-Based Energy Tax for U.S. Agriculture

Policies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are likely to increase energy prices. Higher energy prices raise farmer costs for diesel and other fuels, irrigation water, farm chemicals, and grain drying. Simultaneously, renewable energy options become more attractive to agricultural producers. We consider both of these impacts, estimating the economic and environmental consequences of higher energy prices on U.S. agriculture. To do this we employ a price-endogenous agricultural sector model and solve that model for a range of carbon-tax-based energy price changes. Our results show mostly positive impacts on net farm income in the intermediate run. Through market price adjustments, fossil fuel costs are largely passed on to consumers. Additional farm revenue arises from the production of biofuels when carbon taxes reach $30 per ton of carbon or more. Positive environmental benefits include not only greenhouse gas emission offsets but also reduced levels of nitrogen leaching.

Sizing the global GHG offset market

By authorising the international exchange of allowances and reduction credits for greenhouse gas emissions, the Kyoto Protocol ‘flexibility’ mechanisms will spawn a global market for greenhouse gas emission offsets. If conditions for ‘supplementarity’ – the extent to which countries may use international mechanisms relative to domestic efforts – remain relaxed, market access and liquidity is expected to be high. This scoping paper aims to broadly assess market size and value. By comparing future allowances with varied economic growth-sensitive emissions projections for countries with emissions limitation commitments under the Protocol, we estimate the annual size of this global market offset to be ∼850–1500 MtC/yr during the 2008–2012 commitment peroiod. Further, we find no more than 1/3 of market demand can be satisfied through ‘hot air’ trading, ie, the exchange of certain countries' excess allowances. Variable costs for supply-side options in this global market, and uncertainty on how future supplementarity policies might limit free-market demand-side allocations, render a precise estimation of market value difficult. However, considering two supplementarity cases and cost data consistent with recent studies, we infer total market value to be ∼24–37 $b/yr during the commitment period, of which 9–17 $b/yr would take place through flexible mechanism transactions.

Greenhouse gas emission offsets: A global warming insurance policy

While scientists work to define the nature and extent of potential climate change, policy makers debate the appropriateness of different responses. One voluntary initiative has pursued a possible response: greenhouse gas offsets. This article describes a program undertaken by The AES Corporation to attempt to offset CO[sub 2] emissions from cogeneration facilities run by the corporation. Independent investigations indicated that an extensive reforestation program might be a practical way to create sinks for CO[sub 2]. This article describes some of the practical concerns of this project. It also describes efforts made to locate areas to carry out a reforestation program, groups worked with, and effort devoted to finding ways to quantify the success of any effort undertaken.