IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/anr/reseco/v4y2012p145-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Overview of Carbon Offsets from Agriculture

Author

Listed:
  • Jimena González-Ramírez

    (Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
    Resource and Environmental Policy Division, Center for Agricultural and Resource Development (CARD), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011)

  • Catherine L. Kling

    (Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
    Resource and Environmental Policy Division, Center for Agricultural and Resource Development (CARD), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011)

  • Adriana Valcu

    (Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011
    Resource and Environmental Policy Division, Center for Agricultural and Resource Development (CARD), Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011)

Abstract

Although climate change has largely been removed from the federal policy agenda of the United States in the near term, the continued reliance on fossil fuels as a dominant energy source leaves many analysts to conclude that climate policy will eventually reappear on that agenda. We present a review of recent research related to the design and implementation of one instrument for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction: offsets. As these are implemented, policy makers must understand the way these programs work. In this review, we describe the basic features of carbon offset markets, along with the potential supply of offsets from agricultural sources and associated cost considerations. In this discussion we highlight the role of institutional design of contracts and transactions costs. We then turn to the benefits of including offsets in policies to reduce GHGs and complete the review with a discussion of the challenges in implementing the programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Jimena González-Ramírez & Catherine L. Kling & Adriana Valcu, 2012. "An Overview of Carbon Offsets from Agriculture," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 145-160, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:4:y:2012:p:145-160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-resource-083110-120016
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mason, Charles F. & Plantinga, Andrew J., 2011. "Contracting for Impure Public Goods: Carbon Offsets and Additionality," Sustainable Development Papers 101290, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    2. Feng, Hongli & Zhao, Jinhua & Kling, Catherine L., 2002. "Time Path and Implementation of Carbon Sequestration (The)," Staff General Research Papers Archive 5068, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Lyubov Kurkalova & Catherine Kling & Jinhua Zhao, 2006. "Green Subsidies in Agriculture: Estimating the Adoption Costs of Conservation Tillage from Observed Behavior," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 54(2), pages 247-267, June.
    4. GR Pautsch & LA Kurkalova & BA Babcock & CL Kling, 2001. "The Efficiency Of Sequestering Carbon In Agricultural Soils," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(2), pages 123-134, April.
    5. Harrison Fell & Dallas Burtraw & Richard Morgenstern & Karen Palmer, 2012. "Climate Policy Design with Correlated Uncertainties in Offset Supply and Abatement Cost," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(3), pages 589-611.
    6. Michael Grubb & Tim Laing & Thomas Counsell & Catherine Willan, 2011. "Global carbon mechanisms: lessons and implications," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 539-573, February.
    7. Feng, Hongli, 2005. "The dynamics of carbon sequestration and alternative carbon accounting, with an application to the upper Mississippi River Basin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 23-35, July.
    8. Woodward, Richard T., 2011. "Double-dipping in environmental markets," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 153-169, March.
    9. Antle, John & Capalbo, Susan & Mooney, Sian & Elliott, Edward & Paustian, Keith, 2003. "Spatial heterogeneity, contract design, and the efficiency of carbon sequestration policies for agriculture," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 231-250, September.
    10. James B. Bushnell, 2011. "The Economics of Carbon Offsets," NBER Chapters, in: The Design and Implementation of US Climate Policy, pages 197-209, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Feng, Hongli & Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Kling, Catherine L. & Gassman, Philip W., 2005. "Transfers and Environmental Co-Benefits of Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils: Retiring Agricultural Land in the Upper Mississippi River Basin," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12439, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Woodward, Richard T. & Han, Manseung, 2004. "Double Dipping In Pollution Markets," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20323, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Roger Sedjo & Brent Sohngen, 2012. "Carbon Sequestration in Forests and Soils," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 127-144, August.
    14. Gramig, Benjamin M., 2010. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Offsets from Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges," Purdue Agricultural Economics Report 188962, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    15. Hongli Feng & Lyubov A. Kurkalova & Catherine L. Kling & Philip W. Gassman, 2005. "Economic and Environmental Co-benefits of Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils: Retiring Agricultural Land in the Upper Mississippi River Basin," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 05-wp384, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    16. Joseph E. Aldy & Alan J. Krupnick & Richard G. Newell & Ian W. H. Parry & William A. Pizer, 2010. "Designing Climate Mitigation Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(4), pages 903-934, December.
    17. -, 2009. "The economics of climate change," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL para el Caribe (Estudios e Investigaciones) 38679, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Schneider, Uwe A. & Kumar, Pushpam, 2008. "Greenhouse Gas Mitigation through Agriculture," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-5.
    19. Lyubov Kurkalova & Catherine Kling & Jinhua Zhao, 2004. "Value of agricultural non-point source pollution measurement technology: assessment from a policy perspective," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(20), pages 2287-2298.
    20. Elbakidze, Levan & McCarl, Bruce A., 2004. "Should We Consider the Co-Benefits of Agricultural GHG Offsets?," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 19(3), pages 1-2.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Majeed, Fahd & Khanna, Madhu & Miao, Ruiqing & Blanc, Elena & Hudiburg, Tara & DeLucia, Evan, 2020. "Designing payments for GHG mitigation to induce low carbon bioenergy production," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304394, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Tiberio Daddi & Niccolò Maria Todaro & Maria Rosa De Giacomo & Marco Frey, 2018. "A Systematic Review of the Use of Organization and Management Theories in Climate Change Studies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 456-474, May.
    3. Hai-Ying Gu & Qing-Mi Hu & Tian-Qiong Wang, 2019. "Payment for Rice Growers to Reduce Using N Fertilizer in the GHG Mitigation Program Driven by the Government: Evidence from Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sharma, Bijay P. & Khanna, Madhu & Miao, Ruiqing, 2022. "Designing Efficient Payments to Incentivize GHG Mitigation Using Energy Crops," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322361, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Hediger, Werner, 2009. "The non-permanence of optimal soil carbon sequestration," 83rd Annual Conference, March 30 - April 1, 2009, Dublin, Ireland 51057, Agricultural Economics Society.
    3. Nobuhiko Fuwa & Asa Jose U. Sajise, 2009. "Exploring Environmental Services Incentive Policies for the Philippines Rice Sector: The Case of Intra-Species Agrobiodiversity Conservation," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Leslie Lipper & Takumi Sakuyama & Randy Stringer & David Zilberman (ed.), Payment for Environmental Services in Agricultural Landscapes, chapter 10, pages 221-238, Springer.
    4. Feng, Hongli & Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Kling, Catherine L. & Gassman, Philip W., 2006. "Environmental conservation in agriculture: Land retirement vs. changing practices on working land," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 600-614, September.
    5. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Sébastien Roussel, 2010. "Contract Design to Sequester Carbon in Agricultural Soils," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10060, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    6. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Sebastien Roussel, 2014. "Payments for Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils: Incentives for the Future and Rewards for the Past," CEEES Paper Series CE3S-01/14, European University at St. Petersburg, Department of Economics.
    7. Uwe A. Schneider & Michael Obersteiner & Erwin Schmid & Bruce A. McCarl, 2007. "Agricultural adaptation to climate policies under technical change," Working Papers FNU-133, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Jan 2008.
    8. de Cara, Stephane & Rozakis, Stelios, 2004. "Carbon sequestration through the planting of multi-annual energy crops: A dynamic and spatial assessment," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 5(1), pages 1-17, January.
    9. Timothy Capon & Michael Harris & Andrew Reeson, 2013. "The Design of Markets for Soil Carbon Sequestration," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 161-173, June.
    10. Hari Dulal & Gernot Brodnig & Kalim Shah, 2011. "Capital assets and institutional constraints to implementation of greenhouse gas mitigation options in agriculture," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, January.
    11. de Cara, Stephane & Houze, Martin & Jayet, Pierre-Alain, 2004. "Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in the EU: A spatial assessment of sources and abatement costs," 2004 Conference (48th), February 11-13, 2004, Melbourne, Australia 58401, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    12. Lee, Juhee & Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Taeyoung & Yu, Tun-Hsiang & Armsworth, Paul Robert, 2015. "Exploring tax-based payment approach for forest carbon sequestration," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 196873, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    13. Suzi Kerr & Adam Millard-Ball, 2012. "Cooperation To Reduce Developing Country Emissions," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(04), pages 1-30.
    14. Kurkalova, Lyubov A. & Kling, Catherine L. & Zhao, Jinhua, 2003. "Institutions and the Value of Nonpoint Source Measurement Technology: Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10676, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    15. Garnache, Cloe & Merel, Pierre R., 2012. "Carbon market policy design: Investigating the role of payments aggregation," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124960, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Rodríguez-Entrena, Macario & Espinosa-Goded, María & Barreiro-Hurlé, Jesús, 2014. "The role of ancillary benefits on the value of agricultural soils carbon sequestration programmes: Evidence from a latent class approach to Andalusian olive groves," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 63-73.
    17. Pindyck, Robert S., 2019. "The social cost of carbon revisited," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 140-160.
    18. Wade, Tara & Kurkalova, Lyubov & Secchi, Silvia, 2016. "Modeling Field-Level Conservation Tillage Adoption with Aggregate Choice Data," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(2), May.
    19. Manning, Dale & Rad, Mani Rouhi & Ogle, Stephen, 2022. "Inferring the Supply of GHG Abatement from Agricultural Lands," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322539, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Soh, Moonwon & Cho, Seong-Hoon & Yu, Edward & Boyer, Christopher & English, Burton, 2018. "Targeting Payments for Ecosystem Services Given Ecological and Economic Objectives," 2018 Annual Meeting, February 2-6, 2018, Jacksonville, Florida 266502, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    GHGs; carbon policy; conservation practices; carbon supply curves; additionality; leakage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics
    • R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:4:y:2012:p:145-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: http://www.annualreviews.org (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.annualreviews.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.