Forest carbon offers cheaper way to curb warming

Forest carbon offers cheaper way to curb warming

www.reuters.com

Counting the climate-warming CO2 locked up in forests offers a cheaper way to curb the GHG than considering only emissions from industry and fossil fuels, says a new study.

Factories, power plants and vehicles likely emit some 500 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2100, according to a study in the journal Science.

A U.N. scheme called REDD allows developing countries to raise potentially billions of dollars in carbon credits in exchange for conserving and rehabilitating forests.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.reuters.com
www.reuters.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
“Carbon Benefits Project”: Land management lowers CO2, may open carbon markets to poor
Forests Could Undermine Carbon Market: Greenpeace
Obama Budget Calls For Auctioning All CO2 Permits
The Anti-Industrial Coup: Environmental Dictatorship by Executive Decree

The world's forests hold some 2 trillion tons of carbon. They can hold more through expansion, reforestation and preservation. As long as the forests stand, that huge amount of greenhouse gas stays out of the atmosphere.

To keep atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 450 parts per million -- the level advised by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to avoid the worst impacts of global warming -- the model that factored in forest carbon had a carbon price of about 1/3 of one that considered only industrial and fossil fuel emissions.

Linking the European Union's emissions trading scheme with a U.S. cap-and-trade scheme will be difficult and require adjustments on both sides, EU market participants said on Friday.

Analysts say linking the EU's scheme (EU ETS) with the United States is a crucial first step toward a global carbon market, which will help achieve real emissions cuts in planet-warming greenhouse gases.

The European carbon market's recent volatility could be another obstacle to linking in the near future. Prices for carbon permits called EU Allowances fell from more than 30.00 euros last July to an all-time low of 8.05 euros in February due to a sell-off by industrial companies to raise cash in the economic slowdown.

www.reuters.com...

Any attempts to link US and EU carbon credit schemes will be complicated, especially in light if the wildly fluctuating credit values in the EU since 2005.

"The (EU) carbon market is too volatile and we need trillions of dollars to pour into energy markets for them to work. It's practically a joke," Seb Walhain, of Fortis Netherlands, said.

Rather than linking the schemes, there should be more focus on producing more clean energy locally through government-led enforcement programs, to drive real emissions cuts.

Giving regional control to those who have 'boots on the ground' will enable quick and active market responses to the area's needs and capabilities.

CO2 mitigation does not require draconian taxation or regulation. Common sense application of facts and science to economics can help in CO2 remediation with minimal expense to developing nations and enhanced benefits to all.

deny ignorance

jw


www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)