Metric Tons Of Carbon Research Articles

Impact of increased fishing on long-term sequestration of carbon by cephalopods

Fish and other metazoans play a major role in long-term sequestration of carbon in the oceans through the biological carbon pump1. Recent studies estimate that fish can release about 1,200 to 1,500 million metric tons of carbon per year (MtC year-1) in the oceans through feces production, respiration, and deadfalls, with mesopelagic fish playing a major role1,2. This carbon remains sequestered (stored) in the ocean for a period that largely depends on the depth at which it is released. Cephalopods (squid, octopus, and cuttlefish) have the potential to sequester carbon more effectively than fish because they grow on average five times faster than fish3,4 and they die after reproducing at an early age4,5 (usually 1-2 years), after which their carcasses sink rapidly to the sea floor6. Deadfall of carcasses is particularly important for long-term sequestration because it rapidly transports carbon to depths where residence times are longest1,6. We estimate that cephalopod carcasses transfer 11-22 MtC to the seafloor globally. While cephalopods represent less than 5% of global fisheries catch7, fishing extirpates about 0.36 MtC year-1 of cephalopod carbon that could otherwise have sunk to the seafloor, about half as much as that of fishing large fish8.

Evaluation of the Carbon Footprint of Wooden Glamping Structures by Life Cycle Assessment

Despite the increasing popularity of glamping structures, empirical studies often overlook the carbon impact of wood in these constructions, creating a significant research gap. Understanding the net carbon effect of wood in glamping structures is crucial for informing sustainable building practices. This paper aims to quantitatively compare the net carbon impact of wood in glamping structures, filling a notable gap in the current research literature. The investigation undertakes a thorough evaluation employing a life cycle methodology, appraising the emissions linked with the complete glamping life span. Seven Romanian companies are examined vertically within the glamping production chain and horizontally across the supply value chain. The investigation unveils a notable discovery: the integration of wood within glamping yields considerable carbon sequestration, wherein the wood employed sequesters 36.83 metric tons of CO2 per glamping unit. This surpasses the carbon emissions entailed throughout the entirety of the glamping life cycle, ranging from 9.97 to 11.72 metric tons of carbon. Remarkably, a single wood-incorporated glamping structure has the capacity to sequester approximately 25 metric tons of carbon within a span of 50 years. In summary, the investigation underscores the capacity of responsibly sourced timber to function as a carbon reservoir, proficiently counterbalancing emissions across the entirety of the construction life cycle. The findings underscore the importance of sustainably sourced wood in achieving carbon neutrality and provide valuable insights for promoting sustainable building practices. This methodology has broad applicability beyond glamping structures, holding potential for replication and scalability across various sectors and regions, thereby contributing to global efforts towards mitigating climate change and fostering positive environmental change.

The Case for Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies

In this paper, we use the literature to help us better understand carbon capture costs and how these estimates fare against those of avoided costs, focusing on bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS), carbon capture and storage (CCS), as well as direct air capture technologies. We approach these questions from a meta-analysis perspective. The analysis uses meta-analysis tools while applying them to numerical rather than statistical studies. Our analysis shows that avoided costs are, on average, 17.4% higher than capture costs and that the carbon intensity of the feedstock matters: the estimates for coal-based electricity generation capture costs are statistically smaller than those for natural gas or air. From a policy perspective, the literature suggests that the costs of CCS are like the 45Q subsidy of USD 50 per metric ton of carbon captured.

Propagation, physiology, and biomass of Giant Cane (Arundinaria gigantea) for conservation and restoration

Arundinaria gigantea is a native species to 22 states in the U.S. The species and its ecosystem are considered critically endangered, and the species has been reduced to 2% of its original extent. Our research goals were to; 1) examine methods for greenhouse propagation for restoration; 2) examine the physiology of cane at one of the only canebrakes on public land in SW MO, greenhouse propagated cane, and field planted cane; and 3) develop an allometric equation to estimate biomass of the canebrake. We used the number of shoots produced as a metric for propagation success. The number of new shoots depended on rhizome length, watering regime, and whether propagation was attempted with the rhizome alone or with an existing culm. We recorded 100% propagation success from every rhizome with culm cut at 2nd internode with regular watering on 8 x 15.6-inch pots having soil-mix/perlite media. Leaf chlorophyll values ranged from 329 umol/m2 in sun leaves to 354 umol/m2 in shade leaves in October 2022. During a mild drought summer 2022, leaves-maintained water potential of -1.8 MPa with photosynthetic rates as high as 12 umol CO2/m2/s. Biomass models based on pole diameter and height were established. We estimated 12,359.508 kg of biomass which is equivalent to 5.8 metric tons of carbon stored by a 0.17 ha canebrake at Mincy Conservation Area in SW MO. Our research provides baseline data for understanding the role of cane and canebrakes in ecosystem functioning in existing canebrakes, and habitats where cane could be restored.

Scoring Sustainability Reports for Assessing Environmental and Social Dimension of Leading Energy Sector Companies

The looming threat of climate change is increasingly placing the sustainability of businesses under scrutiny. The power sector in India offers a compelling context to explore the scope of ESG disclosures. The country heavily relies on coal, oil, and gas for extensive electrification, making it the world's fourth-largest emitter of pollution, releasing 2.65 billion metric tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere annually. In this paper an attempt has been made to review and analyse the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reports of Energy sector companies in India. A distinction has also been made in public and private sector companies. Sustainability Reporting Maturity Model released by ICAI has been used to score the companies for the social and environmental indicators reported by them in the BRSR. It was found that although private sector companies are reporting the environmental indicators better, the public sector is leading in reporting social indicators. However, when it comes to overall performance, public sector companies outperform private sector companies.

Assessing the benefits and management of urban forest in supporting low carbon city in Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract. Aulia R, Kaswanto, Arifin HS, Mosyaftiani A, Syasita N, Wahyu A, Wiyoga H. 2023. Assessing the benefits and management of urban forest in supporting low carbon city in Jakarta, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 6151-6159. Climate change is a phenomenon that has become a global concern including in urban areas. Jakarta is one of the most populated cities in Indonesia, reaching 10.56 million people in 2020 with high emissions levels due to high human activities. Thus, efforts to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate climate change are necessary in Jakarta one of which is through the concept of low carbon city and manifested in the establishment of Green Open Space (GOS), including urban forests. Urban forests aim to sequester and store carbon, and improve the urban microclimate. This research aimed to assess the benefits of urban forests in Jakarta in term of their capacity in carbon sequestration using i-Tree Eco tool, and analyse the management of urban forests related to the applicable regulations. To collect data on trees, this study created 49 plots scattered across Srengseng Urban Forest, Cipayung Urban Forest, Munjul Urban Forest, Rawa Malang Urban Forest, and Pondok Labu Urban Forest. Tree species, Diameter at Breast Height (DBH), total tree height, live tree height, crown base height, crown width, percent crown loss, and crown light exposure were all gathered. Furthermore, in-depth interviews with urban forest managers were performed to gather additional information on present management, including questions derived from Jakarta's green open space legislation to assess management efficacy. The results of the analysis of urban forest quality show that the health status of trees is one of the factors that indicate the quality of urban forests at the five study sites, with more than 50% of the total trees in fair condition (75- 90% health). The gross carbon sequestration of trees in five urban forests Jakarta is about 184.8 metric tons of carbon per year. Additionally, the in-depth interviews also test the mortality of the urban forest, a decent indicator of current management with estimates over the next 10 years, showing a slight increase in carbon sequestration and storage capacity. However, the mortality scenario leads to a trend toward a decrease in leaf area and the number of tree categories, especially in the Srengseng Urban Forest.

Current and Emerging Protocols for Carbon Measurement in Agricultural Soils

Soils have the capacity to function as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide and are crucial for climate regulation. Soils have the potential to store around 1.5 to 2.4 trillion metric tons of carbon (C) in the soil globally. They contain large C pools that can store three times more C than the atmosphere and four times more than plants. These massive C sinks have the potential to reverse soil degradation, mitigate climate change, and enhance food security. It is therefore essential to monitor the C cycle by accurately measuring the amount of soil C in agricultural fields. This can help in developing sustainable management practices that can minimize C emissions and sequester C into the soil from the atmosphere. This publication describes the various current and emerging protocols that can be used to measure soil C.

Performance evaluation of large-scale photovoltaic power plant in Saharan climate of Algeria based on real data

In this study we evaluate a large-scale, grid-connected photovoltaic power plant (LS-PVPP) in a hot climate in Adrar, Algeria. The plant's performance was evaluated using both real-world data from 2018 and simulations conducted with PVsyst in terms of various parameters, such as reference yield, capacity factor, performance ratio, statistical indicators, and carbon emission savings. The results indicate a significant reduction in carbon emissions by the LS-PVPP, with a final yield of 4.98 kWh/kWp/day, a performance ratio of 71.67 %, a capacity factor of 20.72 %, and a global system efficiency of 10.66 % and save 19,388 metric tons of carbon in 2018. The industrial approach analysis revealed a target performance ratio (PR) of 71.17 %. The difference of 0.5 % led to extra energy generation of 252.67 MWh and additional revenue of 27,957.42USD. The simulated data predicted a final yield of 5.36 kWh/kWp/day, a performance ratio of 77 %, a capacity factor of 22.38 %, a global system efficiency of 11.55 %. The aim of this research is to offer data on the performance of a (LS-PVPP) in a hot climate. Researchers, photovoltaic project developers, and stakeholders can utilize the findings to assess project viability, optimize performance, and maximize the environmental and economic benefits.

Yol ağaçlarının sağladığı ekosistem hizmetlerinin değerlendirilmesi: Burdur (Türkiye) kent merkezi

Objective: The objective of this study was to reveal at which level urban street trees in Burdur city center can accomplish ecosystem services (ES) regulation. Material and Methods: In this study, ecosystem benefits in physical terms are quantified by using a software called i-Tree Eco model developed by the USDA Forest Service. Besides tree characteristics and urban forest cover, air pollution reduction, carbon storage and sequestration, oxygen production, and avoided runoff are four regulating ES selected and studied. Results: As a result of the measurements made it was estimated that trees in Burdur city center remove 66.79 kilograms of air pollution per year and the gross sequestration of street trees was about 12.92 metric tons of carbon per year. Conclusion: Considering the data obtained as a result of this study, it can be stated that the species to t provide an advantage in terms of ecosystem services-pollution removal, carbon sequestration and storage, oxygen production, stormwater avoided-should be preferred to determine the tree species to be used in urban street afforestation.

Urbanization associated changes in biogeochemical cycles.

Urbanization associated changes in biogeochemical cycles.

Record-high CO2 emissions from boreal fires in 2021.

Extreme wildfires are becoming more common and increasingly affecting Earth's climate. Wildfires in boreal forests have attracted much less attention than those in tropical forests, although boreal forests are one of the most extensive biomes on Earth and are experiencing the fastest warming. We used a satellite-based atmospheric inversion system to monitor fire emissions in boreal forests. Wildfires are rapidly expanding into boreal forests with emerging warmer and drier fire seasons. Boreal fires, typically accounting for 10% of global fire carbon dioxide emissions, contributed 23% (0.48 billion metric tons of carbon) in 2021, by far the highest fraction since 2000. 2021 was an abnormal year because North American and Eurasian boreal forests synchronously experienced their greatest water deficit. Increasing numbers of extreme boreal fires and stronger climate-fire feedbacks challenge climate mitigation efforts.

Green Space Ecosystem Services and Value Evaluation of Three-Dimensional Roads for Sustainable Cities

The provision of green space as a result of three-dimensional roads plays a crucial role in maintaining the sustainability of the urban ecosystem. It does so by solving environmental problems and offering various ecosystem services to city residents. This study focuses on the park section of an expressway located between Bundang and Suseo in Seongnam city, South Korea, and quantifies the improvement in air quality and ecological value following the transformation of the road into green infrastructure. The goal is to determine the feasibility of sustainable green infrastructure for roads. The new park area on the road is approximately 83,000 sq. meters and there are approximately 3349 trees planted in the park. These trees can store 77.68 metric tons of carbon annually, isolate 13.21 metric tons of total carbon, remove 70.446 kg of air pollutants, avoid 112.8 cubic meters of emissions, and mitigate 31,983.90 cubic feet of emissions. The resulting economic value is approximately 874,494 dollars. Road green infrastructure conversion can be a useful solution to respond to environmental problems. To promote decision-making when developing policies, a process of pre-verification with quantified data of ecosystem services (example: air quality benefits, etc.) of trees using the i-Tree Eco program is required. In the execution stage, it is possible to understand the structure, function, and value of green spaces and prepare guidelines for tree selection, design alternatives, and evaluation as one of the management strategies for green spaces to improve the value of ecosystem services.

Does Retrofitting Pay Off? An Analysis of German Multifamily Building Data

Several studies have investigated the relationship between the energy performance of buildings and housing prices. First, this paper identifies a price premium for energy efficiency within the German rental market. Then, the indexed price differences and associated marginal benefits are compared with the marginal costs of energy retrofits. An extensive database of Germany’s largest online platform for housing over a time span from 2016 to 2020 is used in a hedonic regression approach. In addition, to extract the marginal costs of energy consumption abatement, a dataset of 1048 rental units regarding green-retrofit measures is utilized. Although a significant green premium is identified in the rental market, the findings suggest that it is not high enough to compensate landlords for the money they have to spend to retrofit. The marginal costs exceed the marginal benefits by far. Furthermore, it is found that the German government’s recent plans to split the carbon tax between landlords and tenants do not change this because the price per metric ton of carbon is insufficiently high. Limitations with respect to the data basis and consequently to the interpretation of the results exist. Nevertheless, the findings can help both tenants and landlords in their decision-making, as well as policy makers in the implementation of decarbonization efforts.

Hydroclimatic vulnerability of peat carbon in the central Congo Basin

The forested swamps of the central Congo Basin store approximately 30 billion metric tonnes of carbon in peat1,2. Little is known about the vulnerability of these carbon stocks. Here we investigate this vulnerability using peat cores from a large interfluvial basin in the Republic of the Congo and palaeoenvironmental methods. We find that peat accumulation began at least at 17,500 calibrated years before present (cal. yr bp; taken as ad 1950). Our data show that the peat that accumulated between around 7,500 to around 2,000 cal. yr bp is much more decomposed compared with older and younger peat. Hydrogen isotopes of plant waxes indicate a drying trend, starting at approximately 5,000 cal. yr bp and culminating at approximately 2,000 cal. yr bp, coeval with a decline in dominant swamp forest taxa. The data imply that the drying climate probably resulted in a regional drop in the water table, which triggered peat decomposition, including the loss of peat carbon accumulated prior to the onset of the drier conditions. After approximately 2,000 cal. yr bp, our data show that the drying trend ceased, hydrologic conditions stabilized and peat accumulation resumed. This reversible accumulation–loss–accumulation pattern is consistent with other peat cores across the region, indicating that the carbon stocks of the central Congo peatlands may lie close to a climatically driven drought threshold. Further research should quantify the combination of peatland threshold behaviour and droughts driven by anthropogenic carbon emissions that may trigger this positive carbon cycle feedback in the Earth system.

Does energy retrofitting pay off? An analysis of German multifamily building data

Several studies have investigated the relationship between the energy performance of buildings and housing prices. First, this paper identifies a price premium for energy efficiency within the German rental market. Then, the generated price differences and associated marginal benefits are compared to the marginal costs of energy retrofits. An extensive database of Germany’s largest online platform for housing over a time span from 2016 to 2020 is used in a hedonic regression approach. Additionally, to extract the marginal costs of energy consumption abatement, a dataset of 1.048 rental units regarding green-retrofit measures is utilized. While a significant green premium is identified in the rental market, the findings suggest that it is not high enough to compensate landlords for the money they have to spend to retrofit. The marginal costs exceed the marginal benefits by far. Furthermore, it is found that the German government’s recent plans to split the CO2 tax between landlords and tenants does not change this because the price per metric ton of carbon is insufficiently high. The findings can help both tenants and landlords in their decision-making, as well as policy makers in the implementation of decarbonization efforts.

Livelihood, carbon and spatiotemporal land-use land-cover change in the Yenku forest reserve of Ghana, 2000–2020

Tropical forests are important sources of securing basic human needs (livelihoods) for both the deprived and well-endowed but are also critical for reducing metric tonnes of carbon (tC) emitted from deforestation and land degradation. However, inequalities of human population and land-use land-cover change (LULCC) are existential threats to sustainable tropical forest reserve management and their aboveground biomass carbon stock (AGBCS) in Africa. This study examines the extent of LULCC, AGBCS and perception of livelihood effects on the Yenku Forest Reserve (YFR) in the Central Region of Ghana. Google Earth Engine remotely sensed Landsat data analysis using supervised classification, change detection, mixed with qualitative data from individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with inhabitants were used. The overall classification accuracy was 89.1%, 90.8% and 89.8% for the LULC in 2000, 2010 and 2020 respectively. Farming, charcoal production, hunting and harvesting non-timber forest products were the main livelihood activities impacting LULCC and AGBCS in the reserve. Open degraded forest was estimated at 1627ha, 1764ha, 1784ha out of 2293ha, corresponding to 36,349.6tC, 39,395.70tC, 39,840.0tC respectively in 2000, 2010 and 2020. Dense degraded forest cover yielded the least carbon stock of 938.6tC compared to 39,840.0tC from less dense degraded forest cover. These findings would aid policy decisions toward achieving United Nations land degradation neutrality and sustainable development goals (SDGs) one, ten and fifteen while ensuring YFR sustainability. Deprived forest-fringe communities, traditional authorities and other relevant stakeholders need to actively adopt gendered livelihood objectives to achieve SDGs, carbon and land degradation neutralities within YFR.

Kentsel yeşil alanlardaki ekosistem servislerinin hesaplanması: Eugene Pioneer Mezarlığı, Eugene, Oregon (ABD)

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify four regulating ecosystem services; carbon sequestration and storage, avoided run-off, air pollution removal by trees and oxygen production in the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery, OR (USA).
 Material and Methods: For data preparation the field data of trees was collected on paper data sheets. Collected data in the field were land-use type, tree species, diameters of breast height-DBH (cm), total tree height (m), live crown height (m), crown base height (m), and crown percent missing. In data analysis I-Tree Eco model version 6 developed by the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station was used.
 Results: The gross sequestration of the cemetery trees is about 7,136 metric tons of carbon per year. Trees in the cemetery were estimated to store 1,610 metric tons of carbon. The trees and shrubs of the cemetery help to avoid run-off by an estimated 452 cubic meters a year. It was estimated that trees remove 143,9 kilograms of air pollutions. Trees in the cemetery were estimated to produce 19,03 metric tons of oxygen per year.
 Conclusion: This study recommends large green areas (large permeable surfaces) and trees with large crowns in the planting design as a better solution for regulating ecosystem services.

Dissolved Organic Matter in the Global Ocean: A Primer.

Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) holds ~660 billion metric tons of carbon, making it one of Earth’s major carbon reservoirs that is exchangeable with the atmosphere on annual to millennial time scales. The global ocean scale dynamics of the pool have become better illuminated over the past few decades, and those are very briefly described here. What is still far from understood is the dynamical control on this pool at the molecular level; in the case of this Special Issue, the role of microgels is poorly known. This manuscript provides the global context of a large pool of marine DOM upon which those missing insights can be built.

Getting to the Bottom of Trawling’s Carbon Emissions

A new model shows that bottom trawling, which stirs up marine sediments as weighted nets scrape the ocean floor, may be releasing more than a billion metric tons of carbon every year.

Toward a carbon neutral campus: a scalable approach to estimate carbon storage and biosequestration, an example from University of Michigan

PurposeThe University of Michigan (U-M) is planning its course toward carbon neutrality. A key component in U-M carbon accounting is the calculation of carbon sinks via estimation of carbon storage and biosequestration on U-M landholdings. Here, this paper aims to compare multiple remote sensing methods across U-M natural lands and urban campuses to determine the accurate and efficient protocol for land assessment and ecosystem service valuation that other institutions may scale as relevant.Design/methodology/approachThis paper tested three remote sensing methods to determine land use and land cover (LULC), namely, unsupervised classification, supervised classification and supervised classification incorporating delineated wetlands. Using confusion matrices, this paper tested remote sensing approaches to ground-truthed data, the paper obtained via field-based vegetation surveys across a subset of U-M landholdings.FindingsIn natural areas, supervised classification incorporating delineated wetlands was the most accurate and efficient approach. In urban settings, maps incorporating institutional knowledge and campus tree surveys better estimated LULC. Using LULC and literature-based carbon data, this paper estimated that U-M lands store 1.37–3.68 million metric tons of carbon and sequester 45,000–86,000 Mt CO2e/yr, valued at $2.2m–$4.3m annually ($50/metric ton, social cost of carbon).Originality/valueThis paper compared methods to identify an efficient and accurate remote sensing methodology to identify LULC and estimate carbon storage, biosequestration rates and economic values of ecosystem services provided.