Memorandum submitted by The Forestry Commission
THE ROLE OF WOODLANDS IN THE VOLUNTARY CARBON
OFFSET MARKET
BACKGROUND
As part of UK Government, the Forestry Commission
is fully committed to the view that offsetting schemes are only
of value when used in conjunction with, rather than instead of,
emissions reduction.
Forest ecosystems play a key role in addressing
climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
and storing it in growing vegetation and soil. A number of schemes
are already up and running allowing individuals, businesses and
others to offset their emissions by planting trees. An estimate
is made of the carbon sequestered over the lifetime of the woodland
and this is marketed as a carbon credit to offset emissions resulting
from specified activities of an individual or organisation. Woodlands
provide a range of benefits and this can provide an attractive
package in the market place. However, the market for domestic
forestry offsets currently allows significant discrepancies in
quality between schemes and may not fully address the issues of
additionality and double-counting.
THE EVIDENCE
BASE
There is generally a good understanding of the
underlying science which can be used to assess the amount of carbon
locked up, particularly in the above ground biomass. However,
understanding of soil processes in forests, as in other ecosystems,
is more limited.
The IPCC has produced Good Practice Guidance
for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry to which national inventories
for the UNFCCC and Kyoto have to comply. The guidance represents
a broad scientific consensus on estimation and is applicable at
project level. UK methodologies have withstood scrutiny of the
IPCC.
SETTING STANDARDS
In the UK, the Forestry Commission sets standards
for sustainable forestry, which apply to all woodland management.
Woodlands managed for carbon must adhere to these standards. However,
there is no common standard or approach to assessing the carbon
sequestered or ensuring that the management of the forest maximises
net carbon sequestration.
The Forestry Commission believes there is scope
to expand the Standards and Guidance for UK forestry to encompass
carbon offset schemes to provide a voluntary benchmark to give
consumers a degree of assurance. This would seek to address issues
such as the calculation of carbon removals and the need for monitoring
of projects. One approach might be to build on the UK's experience
developing the voluntary standard for independent 3rd party auditing
of woodland management. This was developed as a partnership between
Government, the forest sector and the environmental NGOs. It allows
buyers to be confident that wood and wood products come from sustainably
managed woodlands.
SUSTAINABILITY
The advantage of carbon offsetting through forest
based schemes arises because forests offer a sustainable land
use with a wide range of benefits over a long time period. The
forestry sector has the knowledge and expertise to manage forest
resources sustainably to deliver multiple goods and services to
society. This knowledge should be used to influence the design
of sustainable forestry and climate change programmes. For example,
it is important that appropriate species, resilient to climate
change, are planted in suitable locations that maximise the range
of environmental and social benefits that woodlands can provide
and minimise any potentially negative effects.
While we do not believe that planting trees
solely for the purpose of carbon sequestration is an appropriate
approach to climate change mitigation, carbon offset schemes may
provide an additional incentive for creating multi-purpose woodlands.
Furthermore, the perceived contribution to climate change mitigation
should not be restricted to sequestration in standing biomass,
but should consider the wider (and often larger) contribution
from harvested wood products (including woodfuel) substituting
for fossil fuels and energy intensive materials.
SCOPE
Availability of land for afforestation limits
the potential for individuals or organisations to take up these
schemes, both in the UK and globally. It is not feasible for the
UK to become `carbon neutral' through afforestation alone. It
is estimated that to do this would require creation of some 50
million hectares of forest—approximately twice the land
area of the UK.
Nevertheless, our forests and forestry industry
have a role to play in combating climate change by providing low
energy, renewable materials and alternative energy sources to
fossil fuels. Forests and woodlands can also contribute in other
ways such as to flood and erosion control, protection of biodiversity
and improving the urban environment.
January 2007
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