Carbon accounting: Quick Steps

1. Carbon accounting: Quick Steps Topic 4, Section B USAID-CIFOR-ICRAF Project Assessing the Implications of Climate Change for USAID Forestry Programs (2009) 1

2. Learning outcomes In this presentation you will learn about some quick steps for measuring and monitoring carbon stocks in a forestry project. Topic 4, Section B, slide 2 of 24

3. Outline • Five simple steps for measuring and monitoring carbon stocks in a forestry project • Define the carbon pools to be measured and monitored • Define the baseline (reference) scenario • Estimate the changes in carbon stocks in trees and soil • Analyse leakage and additionality • Calculate the carbon sequestered (or emission avoided) by the project activity • Examples Topic 4, Section B, slide 3 of 24

4. Simplified steps for measuring and monitoring carbon stocks in a forestry project • Define the carbon pools to be measured and monitored • Define the baseline (reference) scenario • Estimate the changes in carbon stocks in trees and soil • Analyze leakage and additionality • Calculate the carbon sequestered (or emission avoided) by the project activity Topic 4, Section B, slide 4 of 24

5. Define the carbon pools to be measured and monitored • Possible carbon pools • Above-ground biomass • Below-ground biomass • Dead wood • Litter • Soil carbon Above-ground biomass Trees Other above-ground biomass Dead wood Litter Soil carbon Below-ground biomass Topic 4, Section B, slide 5 of 24

6. Which carbon pools should be measured and monitored? • Measure and monitor only those carbon pools that are changing considerably due to a proposed activity (CDM project, REDD scheme) and can be measured and monitored cost-efficiently • For example, some approved CDM methodologies do not include soil carbon, litter, and dead wood • Under CDM rules, if a pool becomes a source (emission) due to a project activity, it has to be measured, monitored, and reported. In REDD, there is no decision on this yet Topic 4, Section B, slide 6 of 24

7. Carbon pools to be measuredand monitored (continued) • Trees account for largest pool (60-90% of total) of the total aboveground biomass (AGB) • Important to get this right – put emphasis here • Highest proportion of AGB of trees is in stems • Easiest, because data and models available • Use robust models for belowground biomass based on aboveground biomass • Other pools can be estimated conservatively from default factors (literature), such as • Dead wood (standing and lying) up to about 15% of AGB • Understory up to about 5% of AGB Topic 4, Section B, slide 7 of 24

8. Define the baseline (reference) scenario • What would happen without the project? • The scenario of emissions by sources or removals by sinks of greenhouse gases that would occur in the absence of the proposed project/programme • The sum of the changes in carbon stocks in the carbon pools within the project boundary that would have occurred in the absence of the project/programme activity (CDM or REDD) Project Baseline 2 Baseline 1 Project Baseline 2 Baseline 1 Topic 4, Section B, slide 8 of 24

9. Estimate changes in carbon stocksin trees and in soil • Use equations and default values to calculate the changes in the carbon stocks ex ante • Creating projections to the future • Develop measuring and monitoring protocol for the carbon pools including • Stratification of the project area to improve the accuracy and precision of biomass estimates • Sampling design • Definition of data and parameters to be monitored • Methods to be used and frequency of monitoring Topic 4, Section B, slide 9 of 24

10. Additionality and leakage • Additionality - provide an explanation to show that the project activity would not have occurred anyway • Use one or several from the list of barriers • Investment barriers; institutional barriers; technological barriers; barriers relating to local tradition; barriers due to prevailing practice; barriers due to local ecological conditions; barriers due to social conditions • Leakage - provide an explanation to show that leakage due to displacement of project activities does not happen, or if it happens, provide and estimation of the emissions caused by it Topic 4, Section B, slide 10 of 24

11. Examples of carbon accounting methods Topic 4, Section B, slide 11 of 24

12. IPCC Good Practice Guidance: 3-tier approach • Tier 1: uses default factors provided at continental scale, stratified by general biome class; IPCC reports 6 types based on wet to dry climate and lowland to montane – high uncertainty • Tier 2: uses some country specific data from a variety of sources and assessment of the fate of carbon (burned, left to decompose, etc.) – high to medium uncertainty • Tier 3: uses advanced methods and detailed country specific data, including national inventories, measurements systems repeated through time, etc. – low uncertainty Topic 4, Section B, slide 12 of 24

13. Stratification • Allows researchers to obtain precise estimates at a lower cost than without stratification • Steps: • Divide heterogeneous population into homogenous groups • Apply monitoring (sampling and calculations) to each strata and compile results at the end Topic 4, Section B, slide 13 of 24

14. Using growth and yield tables • In some cases, such as in plantations, growth and yield tables exist – description of stand development • Example: Age – Tree height – Diameter – Number of trees – Basal area - Volume Topic 4, Section B, slide 14 of 24

15. Using growth and yield tables(2) • Stem diameters • Estimate (ex ante) or measure stem diameter of the trees • Stem volume • Obtain total volume of the stand from the tables or from volume equations • Biomass • Convert stem volumes to stem biomass by using conversion factors – or • Use allometric equations (biomass expansion factors) to calculate total tree biomass from stem biomass – or • Use allometric equations to estimate total tree biomass directly from stem diameter • Carbon • Convert biomass and carbon by using a conversion factor of 0.50 Topic 4, Section B, slide 15 of 24

16. Allometric equations Stem diameter vs. total above-ground biomass Stem diameter vs. stem volume Bombacopsis quinata Tectonagrandis Perez & Kanninen, 2003a Perez & Kanninen, 2002 Topic 4, Section B, slide 16 of 24

17. Case study: maple-beech-birch stands in the northeast USA Source: Smith at al. 2005 Topic 4, Section B, slide 17 of 24

18. Quiz • Case 1: What is the carbon stock in living trees at ages of 25 and 45 years? What is the net carbon stock change over this interval? • Carbon stocks in living trees are 53.2 and 87.8 tonnes per hectare for years 25 and 45, respectively (see table in the previous slide) • Net annual stock change = (87.8 – 53.2) / 20 = 1.7 tonnes per hectare per year • Case 2: What is the total carbon stock of the five IPCC pools (see slide 3) at the age of 55? • Above-ground biomass: 142.7 (total nonsoil) • Below-ground biomass: not applicable • Dead wood: 14.5 tonnes per hectare (standing dead tree + down dead wood) • Litter: we don’t know, because in the table “forest floor” = litter + humus + fine roots in the organic layer above mineral soil. In the IPCC definition fine roots are part of “below-ground biomass” • Soil carbon: 69.6 tonnes per hectare (soil organic) • Total carbon stock in the table of he previous slide: 212.2 tonnes per hectare (nonsoil + soil) Topic 4, Section B, slide 18 of 24

19. USAID/Winrock Forest Carbon Calculator • Combines global datasets on carbon biomass, deforestation, tree growth rates, impacts of forest management • Forest protection, reforestation/afforestation, forest management, agroforestry • Not a full IPCC Tier 3 analysis, but better than Tier 2 in many cases • Simple way to quickly estimate CO2 benefits of projects • Available on-line at: http://winrock.stage.datarg.net Topic 4, Section B, slide 19 of 24

20. Output examples CO2FIX output for Robiniaafforestation for Moldova Baseline = Grassland carbon in trees and soil Project = Robinia sp. carbon in trees and soil Moldova Soil Conservation Project (Source: Winrock, 2005) Topic 4, Section B, slide 20 of 24

21. General references • Brown, S. 1997 Estimating biomass and biomass change of tropical forests: a primer. FAO Forestry Paper no. 134. • Brown, S. 2002 Measuring carbon in forests: current status and futurechallenges Environ. Pollut. 116 363–72. • Brown, S. and Gaston, G. 1995 Use of forest inventories and geographic information systems to estimate biomass density of tropical forests: applications to tropical Africa Environ. Monit. Assess. 38 157–68. • Pearson, T., Walker, S. and Brown, S. 2005 Sourcebook for land use, land-use change and forestry projects. Winrock International and the BioCarbon Fund of the World Bank. 57 p. • Penman. J. et al. 2003 Good practice guidance for land use, land-use change and forestry. IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Program and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Kanagawa, Japan. Available at: http://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/gpglulucf/gpglulucf.htm. • Pérez Cordero, L.D. and Kanninen, M. 2002 Wood specific gravity and aboveground biomass of Bombacopsisquinata plantations in Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 165:1-9. • Pérez Cordero, L.D. and Kanninen, M. 2003a Provisional equations for estimating total and merchantable volume of Tectonagrandis trees in Costa Rica. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 13(4): 345-359. • Pérez Cordero, L.D. and Kanninen, M. 2003b Aboveground biomass of Tectonagrandis plantations in Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 15(1): 199-213. Topic 4, Section B, slide 21 of 24

22. Afforestation and reforestation • Cd4Cdm. 2005a Clean Development Mechanism PDD Guidebook: Navigating the Pitfalls. UNEP Risø Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark.www.cd4cdm.org. • Cd4Cdm. 2005b Baseline Methodologies For Clean Development Mechanism Projects: a Guidebook. UNEP Risø Centre on Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development, Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark. www.cd4cdm.org • Executive Board. 2005 Tool for the demonstration and assessment of additionality in A/R CDM project activities. Report of the 21st meeting of the CDM Executive Board, Sept 2005, Annex 16. Available at: http://cdm.unfccc.int/EB • Methodologies for AR CDM Projects http://cdm.unfccc.int/methodologies/ARmethodologies/approved_ar.html. • Pearson, T., Walker, S. and Brown, S. 2006 Guidebook for the Formulation of Afforestation and Reforestation Projects under the Clean Development Mechanism. ITTO Technical Series 25, International Tropical Timber Organization, Yokohama, Japan. www.itto.or.jp. • Winrock International. 2005 Gaining approval for LULCF projects and project methodologies under the CDM: Lessons learned. Side Event at COP 11. http://www.winrock.org/ecosystems/files/COP11_Winrock_Talk_12022005.pdf Topic 4, Section B, slide 22 of 24

23. REDD • Angelsen. A. (Ed.) 2008 Moving Ahead with REDD: Issues, Options and Implications. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia. Pp. 99-106. http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/BAngelsen0801.pdf. • CIFOR Infobrief 15. 2008 What is the right scale for REDD? The implications of national, subnational and nested approaches” by ArildAngelsen, Charlotte Streck, Leo Peskett, Jessica Brown & Cecilia Luttrell (http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Infobrief/015-infobrief.pdf) • CIFOR Infobrief 16. 2008 Measuring and monitoring forest degradation for REDD: Implications of country circumstances” by Daniel Murdiyarso, Margaret Skutsch, Manuel Guariguata, MarkkuKanninen & Cecilia Luttrell, Pita Verweij and Osvaldo Stella (http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Infobrief/016-infobrief.pdf) • Meridian Institute. 2009 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD): An Options Assessment Report. Prepared for the Government of Norway, by ArildAngelsen, Sandra Brown, Cyril Loisel, Leo Peskett, Charlotte Streck, and Daniel Zarin. Available at: http://www.REDD-OAR.org Topic 4, Section B, slide 23 of 24

24. Thank you for your attention