IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/feemcc/9324.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Abatement and Transaction Costs of Carbon-Sink Projects Involving Smallholders

Author

Listed:
  • Cacho, Oscar J.
  • Lipper, Leslie

Abstract

Agroforestry projects have the potential to help mitigate global warming by acting as sinks for greenhouse gasses. However, participation in carbon-sink projects may be constrained by high costs. This problem may be particularly severe for projects involving smallholders in developing countries. Of particular concern are the transaction costs incurred in developing projects, measuring, certifying and selling the carbon-sequestration services generated by such projects. This paper addresses these issues by analysing the implications of transaction and abatement costs in carbon-sequestration projects. A model of project participation is developed, which accounts for the conditions under which both buyers and sellers would be willing to engage in a carbon transaction that involves a long-term commitment. The model is used to identify critical project-design variables (minimum project size, farm price of carbon, minimum area of participating farms). A project feasibility frontier (PFF) is derived, which shows the minimum project size that is feasible for any given market price of carbon. The PFF is used to analyse how the transaction costs imposed by the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol affect project feasibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Cacho, Oscar J. & Lipper, Leslie, 2007. "Abatement and Transaction Costs of Carbon-Sink Projects Involving Smallholders," Climate Change Modelling and Policy Working Papers 9324, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:feemcc:9324
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.9324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/9324/files/wp070027.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.9324?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:wbk:wboper:13408 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Leslie Lipper & Romina Cavatassi, 2003. "Land Use Change, Carbon Sequestration and Poverty Alleviation," Working Papers 03-13, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    3. John M. Antle & Roberto O. Valdivia, 2006. "Modelling the supply of ecosystem services from agriculture: a minimum‐data approach," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 50(1), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Krey, Matthias, 2004. "Transaction costs of CDM projects in India: An empirical survey," HWWA Reports 238, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA).
    5. 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.
    6. Cacho, Oscar J. & Marshall, Graham R. & Milne, Mary, 2003. "Smallholder agroforestry projects: Potential for carbon sequestration and poverty alleviation," ESA Working Papers 289093, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    7. Oscar Cacho & Russell Wise & Kenneth MacDicken, 2004. "Carbon Monitoring Costs and their Effect on Incentives to Sequester Carbon through Forestry," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 273-293, July.
    8. Karan Capoor & Philippe Ambrosi, "undated". "State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2006," World Bank Publications - Reports 13409, The World Bank Group.
    9. Otsuka, Keijiro & Place, Frank (ed.), 2001. "Land tenure and natural resource management: A comparative study of agrarian communities in Asia and Africa," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 0-8018-6747-9.
    10. Krey, Matthias, 2004. "Transaction Costs of CDM Projects in India - An Empirical Survey," Report Series 26112, Hamburg Institute of International Economics.
    11. Franck Lecocq & Karan Capoor, "undated". "State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2005," World Bank Publications - Reports 13411, The World Bank Group.
    12. Peter Grist & Ken Menz, 1997. "On-Site Effects of Imperata Burning by Indonesian Smallholders: A Bioeconomic Model," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 79-96.
    13. repec:wbk:wboper:13410 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Cacho, Oscar J. & Marshall, Graham R. & Milne, Mary, 2005. "Transaction and abatement costs of carbon-sink projects in developing countries," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(5), pages 597-614, October.
    15. Brière, Bénédicte de la & Rawlings, Laura B., 2006. "Examining conditional cash transfer programs : a role for increased social inclusion?," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 90341, The World Bank.
    16. Axel Michaelowa & Marcus Stronzik & Frauke Eckermann & Alistair Hunt, 2003. "Transaction costs of the Kyoto Mechanisms," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(3), pages 261-278, September.
    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. Roy Chowdhury, Pranab K. & Brown, Daniel G., 2023. "Modeling the effects of carbon payments and forest owner cooperatives on carbon storage and revenue in Pacific Northwest forestlands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Emily Anderson & Hisham Zerriffi, 2012. "Seeing the trees for the carbon: agroforestry for development and carbon mitigation," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 741-757, December.
    3. Moss, Jonathan & Cacho, Oscar J., 2014. "Farm-scale analysis of the potential uptake of carbon offset activities," 2014 Conference, August 28-29, 2014, Nelson, New Zealand 187402, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Donaghy, Peter & Rolfe, John & Gowen, Rebecca & Bray, Steven & Madonna, Hoffman, 2010. "Assessing the economic impact of an emissions trading scheme on agroforestry in Australia’s northern grazing systems," 2010 Conference (54th), February 10-12, 2010, Adelaide, Australia 59069, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Wiskerke, W.T. & Dornburg, V. & Rubanza, C.D.K. & Malimbwi, R.E. & Faaij, A.P.C., 2010. "Cost/benefit analysis of biomass energy supply options for rural smallholders in the semi-arid eastern part of Shinyanga Region in Tanzania," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 148-165, January.
    6. Larson, Donald F. & Dinar, Ariel & Blankespoor, Brian, 2012. "Aligning climate change mitigation and agricultural policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6080, The World Bank.
    7. Timothy Pearson & Sandra Brown & Brent Sohngen & Jennifer Henman & Sara Ohrel, 2014. "Transaction costs for carbon sequestration projects in the tropical forest sector," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 19(8), pages 1209-1222, December.
    8. Torres, Arturo Balderas & Marchant, Rob & Lovett, Jon C. & Smart, James C.R. & Tipper, Richard, 2010. "Analysis of the carbon sequestration costs of afforestation and reforestation agroforestry practices and the use of cost curves to evaluate their potential for implementation of climate change mitigat," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 469-477, January.
    9. Ross Kingwell, 2021. "Agriculture’s carbon‐neutral challenge: The case of Western Australia," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(3), pages 566-595, July.
    10. Kingwell, Ross S. & Harris-Adams, Keely, 2009. "An analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture in Western Australia and the opportunities for agroforestry offsets," 2009 Conference (53rd), February 11-13, 2009, Cairns, Australia 48161, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    11. Cacho, Oscar J. & Lipper, Leslie & Moss, Jonathan, 2013. "Transaction costs of carbon offset projects: A comparative study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 232-243.
    12. Larson, Donald F. & Dinar, Ariel & Frisbie, J. Aapris, 2011. "Agriculture and the clean development mechanism," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5621, The World Bank.

    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. Oscar Cacho & Leslie Lipper, 2006. "Abatement and Transaction Costs of Carbon-Sink Projects Involving Smallholders," Working Papers 06-13, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    2. Cacho, Oscar J., 2008. "Carbon markets, transaction costs and bioenergy," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6007, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    3. Cacho, Oscar J. & Lipper, Leslie & Moss, Jonathan, 2013. "Transaction costs of carbon offset projects: A comparative study," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 232-243.
    4. Wise, Russell M. & Cacho, Oscar J., 2008. "Bioeconomic meta-modelling of Indonesian agroforests as carbon sinks," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6772, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Russell Wise & Graham Maltitz & Robert Scholes & Chris Elphinstone & Renee Koen, 2009. "Estimating carbon in savanna ecosystems: rational distribution of effort," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 14(7), pages 579-604, October.
    6. Allwardt, Jennifer, 2011. "Carbon Credit Payment Options for Agroforestry Projects in Africa," Graduate Research Master's Degree Plan B Papers 118497, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    7. U. Kalpagam & Karimullah, 2007. "India's Business Prospects in the Global Emissions Market," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 8(2), pages 237-250, December.
    8. Skidmore, Samuel & Santos, Paulo & Leimona, Beria, 2012. "Seeing REDD: A Microeconomic Analysis of Carbon Sequestration in Indonesia," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126688, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Khem Raj Dahal & Shiva Ch & ra Dhakal, "undated". "The Relative Efficiency of Organic Farming in Nepal," Working papers 105, The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics.
    10. Gernot Klepper & Sonja Peterson, 2006. "Emissions Trading, CDM, JI, and More: The Climate Strategy of the EU," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 1-26.
    11. Jinshan Zhu & Hui Yao & Yingkai Tang & Liyong Wang, 2015. "An econometric analysis of sub-national Clean Development Mechanism performance in China," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 1137-1153, October.
    12. Skidmore, Samuel & Santos, Paulo & Leimona, Beria, 2014. "Targeting REDD+: An Empirical Analysis of Carbon Sequestration in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 781-790.
    13. Hean, Robyn L. & Cacho, Oscar J. & Menz, Kenneth M., 2003. "Temporary carbon storage and discount rates," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57888, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    14. Bruce P. Chadwick, 2006. "Transaction costs and the clean development mechanism," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(4), pages 256-271, November.
    15. Cacho, Oscar J. & Milne, Sarah & Gonzalez, Ricardo & Tacconi, Luca, 2014. "Benefits and costs of deforestation by smallholders: Implications for forest conservation and climate policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 321-332.
    16. Coomes, Oliver T. & Grimard, Franque & Potvin, Catherin & Sima, Philip, 2008. "The fate of the tropical forest: Carbon or cattle?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 207-212, April.
    17. repec:ags:aare05:139304 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Wan-Yu Liu & Qunwei Wang, 2016. "Optimal pricing of the Taiwan carbon trading market based on a demand–supply model," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 84(1), pages 209-242, November.
    19. Hong, Jin & Guo, Xiumei & Marinova, Dora & Yang, Fengli & Yu, Wentao, 2013. "Clean development mechanism in China: Regional distribution and prospects," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 151-163.
    20. Sonja Peterson, 2008. "Greenhouse gas mitigation in developing countries through technology transfer?: a survey of empirical evidence," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 283-305, March.
    21. Leslie Lipper & Prabhu Pingali & Monika Zurek, 2006. "Less-Favoured Areas: Looking Beyond Agriculture Towards Ecosystem Services," Working Papers 06-08, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy;

    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:ags:feemcc:9324. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    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.