IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/forpol/v144y2022ics1389934122001538.html

The time value of carbon storage

Author

Listed:
  • Parisa, Zack
  • Marland, Eric
  • Sohngen, Brent
  • Marland, Gregg
  • Jenkins, Jennifer

Abstract

Widespread concern about the risks of global climate change is increasingly focused on the urgent need for action, and natural climate solutions are a critical component of global strategies to achieve low temperature targets. Yet to date, the full potential of natural systems to store carbon has not been leveraged because policymakers have required long-term contracts to compensate for permanence concerns, and these long-term contracts substantially raise costs and limit deployment. In this paper, we lay out the rationale that our time preference for early action leads to the conclusion that multiple tons of short-term storage of carbon in ecosystem stocks can be considered to have equal value – as measured by the social cost of carbon – as 1 ton of carbon sequestered permanently. This equivalence can be used to quantify the value of short-term carbon storage, thereby removing one of the most significant barriers to participation in the carbon market and enabling the full climate mitigation potential of the land sector to be realized.

Suggested Citation

  • Parisa, Zack & Marland, Eric & Sohngen, Brent & Marland, Gregg & Jenkins, Jennifer, 2022. "The time value of carbon storage," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:144:y:2022:i:c:s1389934122001538
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2022.102840
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934122001538
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.forpol.2022.102840?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yongyang Cai & Thomas S. Lontzek, 2019. "The Social Cost of Carbon with Economic and Climate Risks," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2684-2734.
    2. Simon L. Lewis & Charlotte E. Wheeler & Edward T. A. Mitchard & Alexander Koch, 2019. "Restoring natural forests is the best way to remove atmospheric carbon," Nature, Nature, vol. 568(7750), pages 25-28, April.
    3. Kirsten Zickfeld & Deven Azevedo & Sabine Mathesius & H. Damon Matthews, 2021. "Asymmetry in the climate–carbon cycle response to positive and negative CO2 emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(7), pages 613-617, July.
    4. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, Enero-Abr.
    5. Veronika Dornburg & Gregg Marland, 2008. "Temporary storage of carbon in the biosphere does have value for climate change mitigation: a response to the paper by Miko Kirschbaum," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 211-217, March.
    6. Marshall, Liz & Kelly, Alexia, 2010. "The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage: Clarifying the terms and the policy implications of the debate," MPRA Paper 27326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Pedro Moura Costa & Charlie Wilson, 2000. "An equivalence factor between CO2 avoidedemissions and sequestration – description andapplications in forestry," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 51-60, March.
    8. Philip Fearnside & Daniel Lashof & Pedro Moura-Costa, 2000. "Accounting for time in Mitigating Global Warming through land-use change and forestry," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 239-270, September.
    9. T. Gasser & C. Guivarch & K. Tachiiri & C. D. Jones & P. Ciais, 2015. "Negative emissions physically needed to keep global warming below 2 °C," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7, November.
    10. Sabine Fuss & Josep G. Canadell & Glen P. Peters & Massimo Tavoni & Robbie M. Andrew & Philippe Ciais & Robert B. Jackson & Chris D. Jones & Florian Kraxner & Nebosja Nakicenovic & Corinne Le Quéré & , 2014. "Betting on negative emissions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 850-853, October.
    11. Marechal, Kevin & Hecq, Walter, 2006. "Temporary credits: A solution to the potential non-permanence of carbon sequestration in forests?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 699-716, July.
    12. Brent Sohngen & Robert Mendelsohn, 2003. "An Optimal Control Model of Forest Carbon Sequestration," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(2), pages 448-457.
    13. Gren, Ing-Marie & Zeleke, Abenezer Aklilu, 2016. "Policy design for forest carbon sequestration: A review of the literature," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 128-136.
    14. Tas Thamo & David J. Pannell, 2016. "Challenges in developing effective policy for soil carbon sequestration: perspectives on additionality, leakage, and permanence," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(8), pages 973-992, November.
    15. Miko Kirschbaum, 2006. "Temporary Carbon Sequestration Cannot Prevent Climate Change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 11(5), pages 1151-1164, September.
    16. Philip Fearnside, 1997. "Monitoring needs to transform Amazonian forest maintenance into a global warming-mitigation option," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 285-302, June.
    17. Martin L. Weitzman, 2014. "Fat Tails and the Social Cost of Carbon," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 544-546, May.
    18. Chomitz, Kenneth M., 2000. "Evaluating carbon offsets from forestry and energy projects," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2357, The World Bank.
    19. Kerchner, Charles D. & Keeton, William S., 2015. "California's regulatory forest carbon market: Viability for northeast landowners," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 70-81.
    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. Jun Shao & Yuxian Wang & Mingdong Tang & Xinran Hu, 2024. "Driving Analysis and Multi Scenario Simulation of Ecosystem Carbon Storage Changes Based on the InVEST-PLUS Coupling Model: A Case Study of Jianli City in the Jianghan Plain of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-33, August.
    2. Arcusa, Stephanie & Hagood, Emily, 2023. "Definitions and mechanisms for managing durability and reversals in standards and procurers of carbon dioxide removal," OSF Preprints 6bth5, Center for Open Science.
    3. Assmuth, Aino & Autto, Hilja & Halonen, Kirsi-Maria & Haltia, Emmi & Huttunen, Suvi & Lintunen, Jussi & Lonkila, Annika & Nieminen, Tiina M. & Ojanen, Paavo & Peltoniemi, Mikko & Pietilä, Kaisa & Pohj, 2024. "Forest carbon payments: A multidisciplinary review of policy options for promoting carbon storage in EU member states," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Pierucci, Pedro & Agostinho, Feni & Sulis, Federico & Almeida, Cecília M.V.B. & Giannetti, Biagio F., 2025. "Modern colonialism in carbon markets? Insights from emergy accounting," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 510(C).
    5. Rossi, David J. & Baker, Justin S. & Abt, Robert C., 2023. "Quantifying additionality thresholds for forest carbon offsets in Mississippi pine pulpwood markets," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. H. Damon Matthews & Kirsten Zickfeld & Alexander Koch & Amy Luers, 2023. "Accounting for the climate benefit of temporary carbon storage in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. J. Sartori, Pedro & Schons, Stella Z. & Amacher, Gregory S. & Burkhart, Harold, 2024. "Deferred rotation carbon programs for even-aged forests: Aligning landowner and societal objectives," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Wu, Jianxian, 2025. "Cities that breathe: Quantifying carbon emission reductions through forest city designation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    9. Stephanie Arcusa & Emily Hagood, 2025. "Definitions and mechanisms for managing durability and reversals in standards and procurers of carbon dioxide removal," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-23, January.
    10. van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2025. "Carbon rotation ages and the offset measurement conundrum: An extended review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    11. repec:osf:osfxxx:6bth5_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Thomas Knoke & Nick Hanley & Rosa Maria Roman-Cuesta & Ben Groom & Frank Venmans & Carola Paul, 2023. "Trends in tropical forest loss and the social value of emission reductions," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1373-1384, November.

    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. Marshall, Liz & Kelly, Alexia, 2010. "The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage: Clarifying the terms and the policy implications of the debate," MPRA Paper 27326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. J. Sartori, Pedro & Schons, Stella Z. & Amacher, Gregory S. & Burkhart, Harold, 2024. "Deferred rotation carbon programs for even-aged forests: Aligning landowner and societal objectives," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    3. H. Damon Matthews & Kirsten Zickfeld & Alexander Koch & Amy Luers, 2023. "Accounting for the climate benefit of temporary carbon storage in nature," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Annie Levasseur & Pascal Lesage & Manuele Margni & Miguel Brandão & Réjean Samson, 2012. "Assessing temporary carbon sequestration and storage projects through land use, land-use change and forestry: comparison of dynamic life cycle assessment with ton-year approaches," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 759-776, December.
    5. Charles Breton & Pierre Blanchet & Ben Amor & Robert Beauregard & Wen-Shao Chang, 2018. "Assessing the Climate Change Impacts of Biogenic Carbon in Buildings: A Critical Review of Two Main Dynamic Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-30, June.
    6. Heli Lu & Guifang Liu, 2015. "Opportunity Costs of Carbon Emissions Stemming from Changes in Land Use," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, March.
    7. Rickels, Wilfried & Rehdanz, Katrin & Oschlies, Andreas, 2010. "Methods for greenhouse gas offset accounting: A case study of ocean iron fertilization," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 2495-2509, October.
    8. Rickels, Wilfried & Rehdanz, Katrin & Oschlies, Andreas, 2009. "Accounting aspects of ocean iron fertilization," Kiel Working Papers 1572, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    9. Rehdanz, Katrin & Tol, Richard S.J. & Wetzel, Patrick, 2006. "Ocean carbon sinks and international climate policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3516-3526, December.
    10. Paschen, Marius & Meier, Felix & Rickels, Wilfried, 2022. "Accounting for terrestrial and marine carbon sink enhancement," Kiel Working Papers 2204, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, revised 2022.
    11. Yiannis Moustakis & Tobias Nützel & Hao-Wei Wey & Wenkai Bao & Julia Pongratz, 2024. "Temperature overshoot responses to ambitious forestation in an Earth System Model," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Stephanie Arcusa & Emily Hagood, 2025. "Definitions and mechanisms for managing durability and reversals in standards and procurers of carbon dioxide removal," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 1-23, January.
    13. Graves, Rose A. & Nielsen-Pincus, Max & Haugo, Ryan D. & Holz, Andrés, 2022. "Forest carbon incentive programs for non-industrial private forests in Oregon (USA): Impacts of program design on willingness to enroll and landscape-scale program outcomes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    14. Cees Withagen, 2022. "On Simple Rules for the Social Cost of Carbon," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 82(2), pages 461-481, June.
    15. Ma, Chunyan & Wang, Nan & Chen, Yifeng & Khokarale, Santosh Govind & Bui, Thai Q. & Weiland, Fredrik & Lestander, Torbjörn A. & Rudolfsson, Magnus & Mikkola, Jyri-Pekka & Ji, Xiaoyan, 2020. "Towards negative carbon emissions: Carbon capture in bio-syngas from gasification by aqueous pentaethylenehexamine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    16. Michael Dutschke, 2002. "Fractions of permanence – Squaring the cycle of sink carbon accounting," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 381-402, December.
    17. Oscar J. Cacho & Robyn L. Hean & Russell M. Wise, 2003. "Carbon‐accounting methods and reforestation incentives," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 47(2), pages 153-179, June.
    18. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Nghiem, Nhung, 2016. "Optimal forest rotation for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation by farm income levels," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 185-194.
    19. Jussi Lintunen & Lauri Vilmi, 2021. "Optimal Emission Prices Over the Business Cycles," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(1), pages 135-167, September.
    20. Frederick Ploeg, 2021. "Carbon pricing under uncertainty," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1122-1142, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:forpol:v:144:y:2022:i:c:s1389934122001538. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol .

    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.