Using Harvested Plantations to Sequester Carbon

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Using Harvested Plantations to Sequester Carbon
Dr. Tony Richardson Director, TreeSmart Australia
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Overview

• Offsetting as part of an overall greenhouse
  emissions strategy
• TreeSmarts approach to offsetting
• Using harvested plantations to sequester carbon
• The role of a carbon pooler
• Payments to tree farmers
• Relating it to transport emissions
• What can we do?

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The Role of Offsetting

• The MAORI Model

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Carbon Neutrality Actions

• Measure
• Direct, Indirect and Embodied Emissions
• Avoid
• Short-term changes to avoid obviously polluting
  activities
• Offset
• Offset the remaining emissions this year with
  other actions
• Reduce
• Long-term actions to reduce emissions
• Iterate
• Go back round and repeat the process over time.

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TreeSmarts Approach to Offsetting

• Uses harvested farm forestry plantations
• Counts the carbon sequestered in Harvested Wood
  Products
• Matches carbon sequestered with emissions
  produced on a year-by-year basis.

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Biosequestration in Trees

• As trees grow, they absorb CO2 to produce the
  carbon which is about 50 of the wood

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Kyoto Protocol Assumption
However, not logically or scientifically valid!
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Four Forms of Sequestration

• In the living trees
• In the timber products
• In fossil fuels (via fuel substitution)
• In landfills.

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Long-term Sequestration in Harvested Timber

• Carbon is stored in timber products for
  considerable time period after harvesting

Source CRC for Greenhouse Accounting
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Perpetual Forest vs Harvested Forest

• Harvesting can increase total sequestration

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Recognition of Sequestration in Harvested Timber

• Australia should make it a priority to explore
  and demonstrate more rigorous methodologies for
  plantation offsets, which take into account the
  carbon contained in harvested wood products.
• (Chap. 6.3.2, Report of the PMs Task Group on
  Emissions Trading, 2007)
• Inclusion of forestry emissions in an ETS
  requires assessment and measurement of carbon
  sequestered in long-lived timber products.
• (Chap. 3.4, Garnaut Review ETS Discussion Paper,
  2008)

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Carbon Offsets by Tree-Planting

• Several Australian organisations offering carbon
  offsets via tree-planting
• e.g. Greenfleet, TreeSmart, Carbon Neutral,
  CarbonSmart

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The Role of Carbon Poolers
Source Australian Greenhouse Office
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Payment to Farm Foresters

• Payments made based on when carbon is
  sequestered, and repayments (or replacement)
  required when carbon is deliberately released

Based on current retail price of 12/tonne CO2-e
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Lets relate it all to Transport

• Typical car is driven 14,000 km/year and emits
  about 4.0 tonnes CO2
• Typical eucalypt plantation (with MAI of 16 over
  20 years) absorbs an average of about 20 tonnes
  CO2 per hectare per year
• Therefore 1 hectare of trees absorbs the CO2 of
  about 5 cars per year.

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This is whats needed for 1 car each year
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What can we Do?
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What can we Do?
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What can we do?

• Measure
• Avoid
• Offset
• Reduce
• Iterate

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Using Harvested Plantations to Sequester Carbon
Dr. Tony Richardson Director, TreeSmart Australia