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The Policy Challenge of Creating Forest Offset Credits: A Case Study from the Interior of British Columbia

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  • van Kooten, G. Cornelis

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the role that forestry activities can play in mitigating climate change. The price of carbon offset credits is used for incentivizing a reduction in the release of CO2 emissions and an increase in sequestration of atmospheric CO2 through forestry activities. Forestland owners essentially have two options for creating carbon offset credits: (1) avoid or delay harvest of mature timber; or (2) harvest timber and allow natural regeneration or regeneration with ‘regular’ or genetically-enhanced growing stock, storing carbon in post-harvest products, using sawmill and potentially logging residues to generate electricity. In this study, a model representative of the Quesnel Timber Supply Area (TSA) in the BC interior is developed. The objective is to maximize net discounted returns to commercial timber operations (and sale of downstream products) plus the benefits of managing carbon fluxes. The model tracks carbon in living trees, organic matter, and, importantly, post-harvest carbon pools and avoided emissions from substituting wood for non-wood in construction or wood bioenergy for fossil fuels. Model constraints ensure that commercial forest management is sustainable, while carbon prices incentivize sequestration to ensure efficient mitigation of climate change. The results are confirmed more generally by comparing the carbon fluxes derived from the integrated forest management model with those from a Faustmann-Hartman rotation age model that explicitly includes benefits of storing carbon. One other question is addressed: If carbon offsets are created when wood biomass substitutes for fossil fuels in power generation, can one count the saved emissions from steel/cement production when wood substitutes for non-wood materials in construction?

Suggested Citation

  • van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2017. "The Policy Challenge of Creating Forest Offset Credits: A Case Study from the Interior of British Columbia," Working Papers 253887, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uvicwp:253887
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.253887
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brad Stennes & Kurt Niquidet & G. Cornelis van Kooten, 2009. "Implications of Expanding Bioenergy Production from Wood in British Columbia: An Application of a Regional Wood Fibre Allocation Model," Working Papers 2009-02, University of Victoria, Department of Economics, Resource Economics and Policy Analysis Research Group.
    2. Sedjo, Roger A., 2011. "Carbon Neutrality and Bioenergy: A Zero-Sum Game?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-11-15, Resources for the Future.
    3. KEVIN DAYARATNA & ROSS McKITRICK & DAVID KREUTZER, 2017. "Empirically Constrained Climate Sensitivity And The Social Cost Of Carbon," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(02), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Johnston, Craig M.T. & Cornelis van Kooten, G., 2015. "Back to the past: Burning wood to save the globe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 185-193.
    5. Robert S. Pindyck, 2017. "The Use and Misuse of Models for Climate Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(1), pages 100-114.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Environmental Economics and Policy; Resource /Energy Economics and Policy;

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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