Kyoto Commitment Period Research Articles

The potential for bioenergy production from Australian forests, its contribution to national greenhouse targets and recent developments in conversion processes

Australia is highly dependent on cheap fossil fuels for energy generation and under the Kyoto Protocol was one of only three industrialised nations to be granted an increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target. To help meet an effective GHG reduction of at least 20% below expected growth rates for GHG so that there is an increase of only 8% above 1990 levels by 2010, Australia has implemented a mandatory target for electricity retailers to obtain an additional 9.5 TWh yr of electricity from renewable sources by 2010. Forest biomass could be a significant and effective renewable energy source. There is a potentially large supply of low-cost residual woody biomass from sawlog-driven harvesting, thinnings, and wood processing. There are also abundant land clearing residues available, but these sources are not sustainable. Various technologies for the conversion of woody biomass to fuels for heat and power generation are outlined: combustion, gasification, carbonisation, densified fuels manufacture, and biochemical conversion. Examples are given of current development and implementation of these technologies in Australia. The establishment of new plantation forests can create carbon sinks that are potentially tradeable. Electricity utilities and large power consumers are being encouraged to invest in reforestation and afforestation to offset their carbon emissions. A plan to treble the commercial plantation forest estate by 2020 that is currently being implemented, would offset up to 6% of Australia's GHG emissions during the first Kyoto commitment period (2008–12).

Pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration by an urban forest

At the beginning of the 1900s, the Canberra plain was largely treeless. Graziers had carried out extensive clearing of the original trees since the 1820s leaving only scattered remnants and some plantings near homesteads. With the selection of Canberra as the site for the new capital of Australia, extensive tree plantings began in 1911. These trees have delivered a number of benefits, including aesthetic values and the amelioration of climatic extremes. Recently, however, it was considered that the benefits might extend to pollution mitigation and the sequestration of carbon. This paper outlines a case study of the value of the Canberra urban forest with particular reference to pollution mitigation. This study uses a tree inventory, modelling and decision support system developed to collect and use data about trees for tree asset management. The decision support system (DISMUT) was developed to assist in the management of about 400,000 trees planted in Canberra. The size of trees during the 5-year Kyoto Commitment Period was estimated using DISMUT and multiplied by estimates of value per square meter of canopy derived from available literature. The planted trees are estimated to have a combined energy reduction, pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration value of US$20–67 million during the period 2008–2012.

Meeting Europe's climate change commitments: quantitative estimates of the potential for carbon mitigation by agriculture

SummaryUnder the Kyoto Protocol, the European Union is committed to a reduction in CO2 emissions to 92% of baseline (1990) levels during the first commitment period (2008–2012). The Kyoto Protocol allows carbon emissions to be offset by demonstrable removal of carbon from the atmosphere. Thus, land‐use/land‐management change and forestry activities that are shown to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels can be included in the Kyoto targets. These activities include afforestation, reforestation and deforestation (article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol) and the improved management of agricultural soils (article 3.4). In this paper, we estimate the carbon mitigation potential of various agricultural land‐management strategies and examine the consequences of European policy options on carbon mitigation potential, by examining combinations of changes in agricultural land‐use/land‐management. We show that no single land‐management change in isolation can mitigate all of the carbon needed to meet Europe's climate change commitments, but integrated combinations of land‐management strategies show considerable potential for carbon mitigation. Three of the combined scenarios, one of which is an optimal realistic scenario, are by themselves able to meet Europe's emission limitation or reduction commitments. Through combined land‐management scenarios, we show that the most important resource for carbon mitigation in agriculture is the surplus arable land. We conclude that in order to fully exploit the potential of arable land for carbon mitigation, policies will need to be implemented to allow surplus arable land to be put into alternative long‐term land‐use. Of all options examined, bioenergy crops show the greatest potential for carbon mitigation. Bioenergy crop production also shows an indefinite mitigation potential compared to other options where the mitigation potential is finite. We suggest that in order to exploit fully the bioenergy option, the infrastructure for bioenergy production needs to be significantly enhanced before the beginning of the first Kyoto commitment period in 2008. It is not expected that Europe will attempt to meet its climate change commitments solely through changes in agricultural land‐use. A reduction in CO2‐carbon emissions will be key to meeting Europe's Kyoto targets, and forestry activities (Kyoto Article 3.3) will play a major role. In this study, however, we demonstrate the considerable potential of changes in agricultural land‐use and ‐management (Kyoto Article 3.4) for carbon mitigation and highlight the policies needed to promote these agricultural activities. As all sources of carbon mitigation will be important in meeting Europe's climate change commitments, agricultural carbon mitigation options should be taken very seriously.