Transcript Carbon Offset Cooperative for PNW Non-Industrial Private

Ask not what climate change
can do for you, but what you
can do for climate change
A proposal to the American
Forest Foundation to form a
Carbon Offset Cooperative for
PNW Non-Industrial Private
Landowners
The Audience:
American Forest Foundation
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Oversees American Tree Farm System
Long history- started in 1942 by the
American Forest Products Industry
Oversees 65,000 tree farmers who own
>85 million acres
Objective
To increase the net amount of carbon
storage in forests by using market-based
incentives for altering forest management.
The Situation
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36% forests in WA are private (60% are
private in United States)
40% of NIPFs in western WA are found
in low density or urban settings, with
threat of land-use conversion
In Puget Sound watershed areas >50%
tree cover declined from 1.64 million
acres to 1.04 million (37%) from 19921997
Situation
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Forests can influence atmospheric CO2
levels by changing the amount of
carbon stored in biomass and soil.
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Climate change can influence forests
by changing frequency, duration,
extent, and intensity of disturbances
Fires
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Climate variability in past can be
correlated with disturbance frequency
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Warm phase PDO* statistically
correlated with increase fire propensity
* PDO=Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a natural climate variation that is associated
with changes in sea surface temperature and is most pronounced in North
Pacific
Insect and Pathogen
Outbreak
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Warm PDO and El Nino positively
correlated with drought
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drought positively correlated with
insect outbreaks
Future Climate Change
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In PNW:
Climate change models predict
increase winter temps and precip,
which leads to decrease in summer
water availability, increase water stress
Increase in fires and insect and
pathogen outbreaks
What is a carbon deal?
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Under Kyoto called an emission
reduction credit
Carbon dioxide emitter pays entity to
have a net reduction in CO2
- increase in carbon sequestration
- decrease in CO2 emissions
We’re not ratifying Kyoto so
who cares?
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Industry believes emissions caps will
eventually be in place
Bush administration making progress
in global warming mitigation strategies
- encouraging GHG reduction and
sequestration projects
- increasing funding for carbon
sequestration policy and research
- increasing funding for Forest
Stewarship Program
Who is paying?
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Greenhouse gas emitters
- Power Companies (Seattle City Light)
- Oil companies (Shell and BP Amoco)
- Chemical companies (Dow, Dupont)
Existing carbon traders
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Climate Trust in OR (partnered with
Seattle City Light)- buyer
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Montana Carbon Offset Coalition
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eg. Paying Lummi Indian Tribe to buy 1,624 acres forest land near
Mt Vernon WA, capture 350,000 metric tons CO2 over next 100
years
eg. Getting paid for reforestation on Salish and Kootenai tribal
lands in Montana
Environmental Resources Trust
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Restore riparian areas on Rocking C Ranch in southern OR
Restore natural prairie on Pine Creek Ranch in eastern OR
Restore old growth Ponderosa Pine stands on Ochoco Lumber
Company lands in eastern OR
Why a cooperative?
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Landowner parcels becoming
increasingly smaller.
Small trades not cost effective (by the
time you factor in cost of auditing,
brokering, taxes etc… you need to
have a guarantee of over 160,000 tons
CO2 to get any money to the seller1.
Also need enough land to cover risk
from climate variability and change.
American Forest Foundation Role
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AFF will serve as the aggregator of
forest landowners and will be “dealmaker”
AFF will pledge x amount of CO2
avoidance where x = expected value
taking into account probability of
disturbance
Landowner Role
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Landowner will agree to alter forest
management plan and will calculate
additional net carbon stored (actually
net CO2 avoided)
Must prove additionality!
- increasing rotation age
- changing site preparation (no subsoiling or burning)
- changing equipment/ transportation
Economics- does this pay?
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For NIPFs can probably receive
enough to pay for project and annual
property taxes
Will not be most economically
attractive, but small NIPFs often aren’t
managing solely to optimize money (or
they would already have developed
land!)
Case Study
Not complete
Comparing changes in carbon storage by
increasing rotation length and will
calculate how much $ton/CO2 removed is
needed to offset hypothetical annual
property taxes
How is this going to help
increase resilience to climate
variability and change in PNW?
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Direct- by reducing CO2 emissions
Indirect- Landowners enrolled in
cooperative will need to actively plan
for risk or increased disturbances due
to climate change
For more information please see
white paper proposal