Query: Carbon Accounting Methods

title: Optimizing rotation management of forest plantations: the effects of carbon accounting methods
abstract: <p>Forest has great value both in storing carbon and timber production. Afforestation has been widely undertaken across countries to achieve their goals in poverty alleviation and environment protection, specifically in mitigating the atmosphere carbon concentration. This study determines the optimal rotations of different forest types in China&#8217;s afforestation projects considering the costs of benefit of afforestation and the carbon value under two different carbon accounting rules, tCER and lCER accounting. The optimal rotation periods of three tree species, Eucalyptus, Chinese fir and Poplar, were estimated using data from various Chinese regions. We apply a modified Hartman rotation model to calculate the optimal rotation period. Results show that at carbon price of 15 USD per t CO<sub>2</sub> for a 5 year validation period, the optimal rotation period are all extended with the highest increase (5 years or 29% found for Chinese fir (E, N, NE) under tCER accounting after considering the value of carbon sequestration. However, the optimal decision for Eucalyptus is extended to 3 years or 60% under lCER accounting. Poplar plantation is less influenced by either tCER or lCER accounting. We further examine the sensitivity of the optimal decision to carbon price and interest rate. Results show the optimal decision of Chinese fir is highly sensitive to the changes of carbon price or interest rate under tCER accounting, while that of Eucalyptus is the most sensitive under lCER accounting. We demonstrate the significant effects of carbon accounting methods and plantation species on the determination of optimal rotation period for afforestation projects. The findings can contribute to the sustainable management of carbon sequestration projects. The methodology can also be applied to other regions in the developing world./p>

title: Comparative assessment for biogenic carbon accounting methods in carbon footprint of products: a review study for construction materials based on forest products
abstract: The forest and building sector is of major importance in climate change mitigation and therefore construction materials based on forest products are of great interest. While energy efficiency has had a large focus in climate change mitigation in the building sector, the carbon footprint of the construction material is gaining relevance. The carbon footprint of construction materials can vary greatly from one type to another, the building sector is consequently demanding documentation of the carbon footprint of the materials used. Using an environmental product declaration (EPD) is an objective and standardised solution for communicating the environmental impacts of construction products and especially their carbon footprint. Nevertheless, it is challenging to include the features of forest products as pools of carbon dioxide. There is currently a focus on research into methods for the accounting of sequestered atmospheric carbon dioxide and also implementation of these methods into technical standards. This paper reviews the recent research and technical standards in this field to promote a common understanding and to propose requirements for additional information to be included in EPDs of forest based products. The main findings show the need for reporting the contribution of biogenic carbon to the total on greenhouse gas emissions and removals over the product's lifecycle. In order to facilitate the implementation of more advanced methods from research, the EPD should also include more detailed information of the wood used, in particular species and origin.

title: Is Forest Bioenergy Carbon Neutral or Worse than Coal? Implications of Carbon Accounting Methods
abstract: Is Forest Bioenergy Carbon Neutral or Worse than Coal? Implications of Carbon Accounting

title: An analysis of system boundaries in hybrid carbon accounting methods
abstract: A key tenet of the work to mitigate anthropogenic climate change is to reduce carbon emissions. An entity; be it individual, company, or nation state, is more able to reduce their carbon dioxide equivalent emissions if they can be monitored and attributed, and their effects measured. The current state of carbon accounting methods does not consistently meet the standards required to tackle this global challenge, therefore this study aimed to identify key methodological practices affecting carbon accounting models and to assess the use of system boundary. Models currently available are either input output based, (using macro economic analysis) process based, (using specific carbon emissions attributes through a life cycle) or a hybrid of the two. A detailed comparison was made and the findings applied to a case study assessing the carbon burden of copper wire. An industry leading process based model was analysed using gap analysis and system boundary selection, and identification methods assessed. Key methodological factors were found to be the inclusion of multi regional data and sensitivity to the economic situation embodied in the model. Multi regional data was found to increase carbon accounting model accuracy by reducing the need to make methodological assumptions and increasing the models' ability to represent real world complexity. Economic sensitivity also enables the models to better represent complexity by describing differences in location, price volatility and market situations. System boundary analysis was identified as inadequately reported universally, the improvement of which is key to any future carbon accounting method accuracy, comparability and usefulness.

title: Low carbon cities in 2050? GHG emissions of European cities using production based and consumption based emission accounting methods
abstract: The role of cities and their stakeholders in creating a sustainable low carbon society is becoming increasingly critical. Cities and their supply chains are responsible for almost 80% of the global energy consumption and over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) It is expected that 70% of the global population will be living in urban areas by 2050. However, in general cities still quantify and report only their production based GHG emissions and fail to account for their supply chains. There has been much less focus on the GHG emissions associated with consumption in cities, including household and government consumption. This paper compares the production based GHG accounting method with the consumption based method for ten European cities. This is performed for a base year (2010) and two divergent future scenarios for 2050, a business as usual (BAU) scenario and a post carbon (PC 2050) scenario. The PC2050 scenario was created by city stakeholders in the framework of the European research project POCACITO in (2014 2016) Consumption based emissions are calculated using the EXIOBASE multi regional input output model. Compared to 2010, both BAU and PC2050 scenarios show significant decreases for production based emissions, falling 31% and 68% respectively. However, during this period consumption based emissions increase for eight cities, rising 33% and 35% respectively. This occurs despite the modelled improvements in global production efficiency for 2050 and the significant production based reductions under the PC2050 scenarios. The increase in consumption based emissions is primarily linked to rising GDP and a corresponding increase in spending and consumption, which override the local and global efficiency improvements. Hence the results highlight a notable disparity between the traditional focus on production based accounting and consumption based accounting. This suggests that future city actions should extend their focus on addressing the impact of consumption in addition to local energy production and emissions. It also suggests that city stakeholders are generally underestimating the impact of consumption and the responses required.

title: Forest carbon accounting methods and the consequences of forest bioenergy for national greenhouse gas emissions inventories
abstract: While bioenergy plays a key role in strategies for increasing renewable energy deployment, studies assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from forest bioenergy systems have identified a potential trade off of the system with forest carbon stocks. Of particular importance to national GHG inventories is how trade offs between forest carbon stocks and bioenergy production are accounted for within the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector under current and future international climate change mitigation agreements. Through a case study of electricity produced using wood pellets from harvested forest stands in Ontario, Canada, this study assesses the implications of forest carbon accounting approaches on net emissions attributable to pellets produced for domestic use or export. Particular emphasis is placed on the Forest Management Reference Level (FMRL) method, as it will be employed by most Annex I nations in the next Kyoto Protocol Commitment Period. While bioenergy production is found to reduce forest carbon sequestration, under the FMRL approach this trade off may not be accounted for and thus not incur an accountable AFOLU related emission, provided that total forest harvest remains at or below that defined under the FMRL baseline. In contrast, accounting for forest carbon trade offs associated with harvest for bioenergy results in an increase in net GHG emissions (AFOLU and life cycle emissions) lasting 37 or 90 years (if displacing coal or natural gas combined cycle generation, respectively) AFOLU emissions calculated using the Gross Net approach are dominated by legacy effects of past management and natural disturbance, indicating near term net forest carbon increase but longer term reduction in forest carbon stocks. Export of wood pellets to EU markets does not greatly affect the total life cycle GHG emissions of wood pellets. However, pellet exporting countries risk creating a considerable GHG emissions burden, as they are responsible for AFOLU and bioenergy production emissions but do not receive credit for pellets displacing fossil fuel related GHG emissions. Countries producing bioenergy from forest biomass, whether for domestic use or for export, should carefully consider potential implications of alternate forest carbon accounting methods to ensure that potential bioenergy pathways can contribute to GHG emissions reduction targets.

title: A REVIEW OF BIOMASS CARBON ACCOUNTING METHODS AND IMPLICATIONS
abstract: When performing greenhouse gas inventories, product carbon footprints, company carbon footprints, and policy studies, it is important to select a carbon accounting approach that is appropriate for the intended use. This report examines the available forest carbon accounting options and the factors to consider in selecting among them. It finds that the "carbon neutrality" debate involves carbon accounting questions related to system boundaries, the greenhouse gases to include, baselines, attribution, and a number of other factors. Because trees require decades to grow, it is especially important that spatial and temporal boundaries are established correctly in studies of forest carbon. Otherwise the results of the analysis may not properly reflect the renewability of forest biomass and the removals of CO2 from the atmosphere during forest growth. Also important, especially in policy studies, is addressing market responses to increased demand for forest biomass. Studies that use accounting methods that ignore these forces produce results that understate the benefits of using forest biomass. Much of the current debate about the benefits of forest derived materials and fuels is not about whether these benefits exist but whether the benefits are delayed (the so called "carbon debt" Where the benefits are delayed, the estimated delay is reduced by using accounting methods that reflect market responses. The significance of a delay in delivering greenhouse gas mitigation benefits, however, cannot be assessed by carbon accounting alone.

title: Review of Carbon Balance and Carbon Accounting Methods for Wetlands Ecosystem
abstract: As a special ecosystem,wetlands play a pivotal role on carbon sequestration.This paper firstly discussed the carbon cycle and carbon balance of the wetlands ecosystem,and then introduced several common methods for carbon accounting,including the method on biomass,the static chamber method,dynamic chamber method,GIS,isotope method,eddy correlation,eddy covariance and so on.Furthermore,the advantages and disadvantages of these methods were analyzed,and the future research on the methods of carbon balance and carbon accounting for wetlands ecosystem was prospected.

title: Assessing the Effects of Accounting Methods for Carbon Storage in Harvested Wood Products on the National Carbon Budget of Lithuania
abstract: Forests and the forest based sector play important roles in mitigating climate change through carbon sequestration and storage in living biomass and soil. In Europe, the forest sector is the only sector that positively affects atmospheric carbon balance. After the forest harvest, a large share of carbon is removed together with the wood. This wood carbon might be stored for centuries if in the form of long lived wood products. In 2011, the United Nations decided that countries should account for and report carbon balance not only in forests but also in harvested wood products (HWP) followed by very general guidelines on methods for carbon accounting in HWP. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) proposed three methodological levels called tiers for estimating carbon stock and its changes in HWP. The first reporting period revealed that countries applied different carbon accounting methods (tiers) therefore comparing the carbon budgets of HWP and the effect of climate change mitigation among different countries is difficult. In order to test the differences between carbon accounting methods proposed by the IPCC guidelines, we applied two carbon accounting methods and used different data sources in the case of Lithuania. The methods applied were the IPCC Tier 2 method (data on HWP from statistics or the literature, default half life values, and default HWP categories) and material flow analysis, which is compatible with the IPCC Tier 3 method (material flow data on HWP, country specific half life values, and country specific HWP categories) Depending on the availability of historical data from different sources for the purpose of this study, three study periods were defined: 1992 2015 Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) data, 1960 1991 data from the literature, and 1940 1991 data from national statistics. The study findings show that carbon stock in HWP significantly differed when different data sources and methods were applied. The highest carbon stock in HWP (19.5 Mt) at the end of the study period was observed when FAOSTAT data from 1992 2015 were used and the Tier 3 method was applied. The lowest carbon stock in HWP (11.2 Mt) at the end of the study period was observed when data from national statistics from 1940 1991 were used and the Tier 2 method was applied. The carbon inflow into the pool of HWP in all cases was estimated to be 40% higher when material flow analysis was applied compared to the IPCC default (Tier 2) method. These findings suggest that in general it is more reasonable to apply the Tier 3 method for carbon accounting of HWP in Lithuania.

title: Comparative analysis of regional carbon emissions accounting methods in China: Production based versus consumption based principles
abstract: The analysis of the characteristics of carbon flows between regions is critical for China to deploy effective regional mitigation strategies. Different accounting principles exert a significant influence on China's regional carbon emissions, especially the fairness of carbon emission reduction targets, and the responsibility for reducing emissions. An input output model was established, based on the input output data of 2007 and 2012, to evaluate the characteristics of regional carbon flow and the change in carbon emission from different industries, and to analyse the changes in carbon emissions under production based, and consumption based, principles in 30 provinces. The results show that the carbon emissions in each region and sector are different: from the eastern region to the western region they show a downward trend, and the embodied carbon flow accounts for a large proportion of the total. Secondary industries are a major contributor to carbon emissions and there is a signifiant influence exerted on the results of carbon emission accounting in various provinces of China under different accounting principles. Therefore, to meet national emission reduction targets, the provinces need to pay considerable attention to the choice of accounting principles and achieve the principle of fairness and impartiality. It will provide a reference for the future division of responsibility for carbon emissions in provinces of China.