November 4 –Implementation –
November 5 – policy analysis quiz on Connect by midnight
November 6 – Implementation, last tutorial
November 11 – Remembrance Day no class
November 13 – forest carbon 1 (ABT Brief due)
November 17 (Monday morning) Carbon Brief due 9 AM
November 17 (Monday evening) – ABT simulation
November 18 no class
November 18 (evening) – carbon simulation
November 20 – Lecture - comparative
November 25 – conclusion 1
November 27 – conclusion 2
December 3 – 3:30-5:30 final exam
2
Centre for Advanced Wood Processing, 2916
ABT Monday November 17
Forest CarbonTuesday November 18
5:00-6:00 Initial Presentation from Caucuses (5
minutes each)
6:00-6:45 Facilitator Identification of areas of
agreement and disagreement
6:45-7:15 Dinner Break: Group meetings
7:15-8:15 Narrow range of disagreements
8:15-8:45 Establish consensus position or range of
option
8:45-9:00 Debrief
3
Review forest carbon dynamics
 BC Climate policy

 General
 Forest carbon
Policy Design Issues
 Offset credibility: the
Darkwoods case
 Wood and bioenergy (if time)
 Conclusion

November 13, 2014
4
There is a LOT of carbon in
forests:
 50% of the weight of wood is
carbon
 1 m3 of wood
= about 0.25 tonnes of
carbon
= almost 1 tonne of CO2
= about the same amount of
carbon as in 350 litres of
gasoline
5

Carbon is stored in
many pools, and
emitted from and
added to each pool
over time

Harvesting,
decomposition, and
fire emit greenhouse
gases to the
atmosphere (i.e. they
result in sources)

Forest growth
removes or
sequesters carbon
from the atmosphere
(i.e. they result in
sinks)
6
Afforestation
• Plant new forests on marginal agricultural land
Avoiding deforestation (permanent loss of forest)
Changing forest management
• harvesting practices
• Rate of cut
• Regeneration
• protection against fire and insects
Use and disposal of harvested wood products
• Produce longer-lived products, substitution for emissions-intensive materials, recycling, improve management of
landfills
Wood bioenergy
• Use wood for power generation, bio-fuels
Bio-economy – displace petrochemical based materials
7
8
9

Only net deforestation counted
Uncounted very large in comparison to 61.5 accounted
• Forest harvesting: 63.1 million tonnes
• Slash burning: 8.0 million tonnes
• Forest fires: 17.1 million tonnes
• Forest growth minus decay: -49.2 million tonnes
Uncounted forest total: 39.3 million tonnes
* quantified for the purpose of transparency but not included in the GHG
accounting
10

Forest carbon is very important compared to
non-forest carbon

Untapped opportunities to reduce carbon
simulation task: Should “carbon” be added
as a value requiring protection under FRPA?
11
Agenda-Setting
Policy Formulation
Decisionmaking

Policy cycle –
implementation stage

Policy design

Strategic actor analysis
Policy Implementation
Monitoring and
Evaluation
12

BC climate policy

Affiliated climate policy

Struggling forest sector
November 13, 2014
13

Climate Action Plan June 2008

Provincial reduction target:
 33% below 2007 levels by 2020
 80% below 2007 levels by 2050

Public sector carbon neutrality by 2010
 Emission offset regulation

Must use Pacific Carbon Trust
November 13, 2014
14






No net deforestation (not implemented)
Forests for Tomorrow, $161 million 4-year
investment in reforestation
Trees for Tomorrow, urban forest tree
planting
Bioenergy Strategy
Promote use of wood
Forest carbon offset policy
November 13, 2014
15
“British Columbia is already worldrenowned for reforestation. Now we have
an opportunity to increase the amount of
carbon our forests sequester, and harness
the economic potential of carbon offsets.
This will not only strengthen the forest
sector and the communities that depend
on it, it will remove more greenhouse
gases from the atmosphere and help meet
our climate change goals.”
Pat Bell April 3, 2009
November 12, 2013
16

Meet an intensity target or
 Pay into a technology fun
 Purchase carbon offsets

Likely to result in much more demand for
carbon offsets
November 13, 2014
17
Review forest carbon dynamics
 BC Climate policy

 General
 Forest carbon
Policy Design Issues
 Offset credibility: the
Darkwoods case
 Wood and bioenergy (if time)
 Conclusion

November 13, 2014
18




Offset: a net reduction in emissions created
when organizations invest in another
company's emissions-reducing activities
Permit or allowance: under “cap and trade”
system, legal authorization to emit certain
amount (they are tradeable)
Offsets can be part of cap and trade system
but are usually regulated
“Cap and trade” instructional video
November 13, 2014
19
November 12, 2013
20

legitimate reductions in GHGs that should, if
properly regulated, play a meaningful role in
climate policy
or

Sketchy subsidies that provide dubious
contributions to reducing GHGs, and should
not be including in sincere climate policies
November 12, 2013
21



Ownership
Rules for what counts
Scope
 Including wood products





Quantification
Permanence
Leakage
Monitoring
Additionality
November 13, 2014
22

The project has to start after November 29, 2007

The project cannot be required by law or regulation

It must be demonstrated that the project faces
financial, technological or other obstacles which are
overcome, or partially overcome, by the incentive of
being recognized as an emission offset

The financial implications of the baseline scenario
need to be considered

Must be validated and by accredited 3rd party
November 13, 2014
23
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/cas/mitigation/pdfs/FCOP_final-dec7-overview.pdf
24

Afforestation

Reforestation

Improved forest management – examples:
 Conservation areas
 Increasing rotation age
 Increasing forest cover constraints (reduce harvest)
 Increase proportion of harvested wood products

Conservation/avoided deforestation
November 13, 2014
25

sequestration and storage of carbon in
above- and below-ground parts of trees
beyond what would occur under the baseline
scenario

No baseline established; project proponent
proposes one for PCT approval
November 13, 2014
26
Carbon stored
November 13, 2014
27
http://www.dehst.de/SharedDocs/Bilder/EN/charts/chart_JICDM_Baseline.png?__blob=normal&v=3
November 13, 2014
28
Where a project changes the level of goods or
services provide, causing a subsequent change
to supply outside the area
 2 types

 Land use shifting
 Harvest shifting

2 sources
 Internal leakage (lands controlled by project owner)
 External leakage – the broader market (not
necessarily in same jurisdiction)
November 13, 2014
29
November 13, 2014
30
Review forest carbon dynamics
 BC Climate policy

 General
 Forest carbon
Policy Design Issues
 Offset credibility: the
Darkwoods case
 Wood and bioenergy (if time)
 Conclusion

November 13, 2014
31
55,000 ha private
forest land in
Kooteneys
 PCT description
 Bought by Nature
Conservancy Canada
 NCC sold 450,ooo
tonnes of credits to
PCT

November 13, 2014
32

“NCC carries out the stewardship of
Darkwoods, resulting carbon being
sequestered over time in addition to what
would have happened in the absence of
NCC’s conservation efforts. Had NCC not
purchased the property, it likely would have
been developed or logged at an intensive,
“liquidation harvest,” level.”
November 13, 2014
33




Baseline assumed to be harvesting 300,000
m3/yr
NCC said it would log 10,000 per year, carbon
in the remaining timber is the offset
Actual harvesting rate 2001-07: 57,000
What appropriate baseline is uncertain
November 13, 2014
34
November 13, 2014
35
November 13, 2014
36

Concern that carbon accounting outfits
helping develop projects and those verifying
project have a conflict of interest

Government not being sufficiently diligent in
scrutinizing justification for project
November 13, 2014
37

Attacks of incompetence from offseters

Extensive critique supporting legitimacy of
offsets posted at industry newsletter

Commitment terminates Pacific Carbon
Trust, moves functions with the Climate
Action Secretariat of the Ministry of
Environment
November 13, 2014
38
Review forest carbon dynamics
 BC Climate policy

 General
 Forest carbon
Policy Design Issues
 Offset credibility: the
Darkwoods case
 Wood and bioenergy (if time)
 Conclusion

November 13, 2014
39

Wood First Act (Bill 9 –
2009)

Sector wide initiative:
Promote use of wood

Framing: “wood is
good”

Changes to building
code to allow 6 story
wood buildings
November 13, 2014
40

“convert wood waste and trees that have
been killed by the mountain pine beetle into
clean, renewable energy, create new
opportunities for rural communities, spur
new investment and innovation, and help
B.C. become energy self-sufficient.”
November 13, 2014
FRST 415
41

Viability depends on relative
value of competing uses of
forest stands

Depends on
 Energy density
 Available technology (gathering
and processing)
 Regulatory framework
 Relative prices of energy and
competing forest products
Sustainable Energy Policy
42

Mill residues

Residues left in forest

Standing timber (including plantation)
November 13, 2014
43

From a greenhouse gas perspective, it makes
more sense to use forests to make long-lived
wood products
 Ben Parfitt – Managing BC’s Forests for a Cooler
Planet
Sustainable Energy Policy
44
BC’s forests can potentially contribute to
greenhouse gas reductions, but immense
complexity and uncertainty make effective and
efficient policy design very difficult
BC’s vast forest resource is a potentially significant
source of energy, but the low energy density and
costs of concentrating the resource where it can
be processed means that for the foreseeable
future it is likely to be a significant, economical
source of energy only as a residual product of
the forest sector.
Sustainable Energy Policy
45

legitimate reductions in GHGs that should, if
properly regulated, play a meaningful role in
climate policy
or

Sketchy subsidies that provide dubious
contributions to reducing GHGs, and should
not be including in sincere climate policies
November 12, 2013
46

Apparent opportunities, immense
challenges

Course tools applicable

Emergent forest carbon policy

Limited bioenergy policy
 Economics questionable
November 13, 2014
FRST 415
47

Coming paradigm shift, or struggling industry
grasping for faint hope?

Depends in part on definition of rules

What makes sense in terms of science?

Beware of underlying interests
November 13, 2014
FRST 415
48