Land use has always been a tricky subject, complicated even more by the fact that countries are putting land use into their INDCs, without clear measures and accounting rules. If, as with some parties, accounting rules hide CO2 released when harvesting, emissions will go unnoticed and the true amount of emission reductions achieved by land …
Read more “Leave poor land-use alone, he has his own problems”
Agriculture supports the livelihoods of around a half of the world’s population, but is at the same time a notable source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) driving climate change. As of one the options to tackle emissions in the sector, governments have been discussing to include additional agricultural activities into the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the United Nations Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) since 2011. Whether agricultural activities should be eligible for carbon offsetting programmes is not only topical within discussions in the UNFCCC but also within certain regional cap-and-trade schemes and discussions to establish a market based mechanism for international aviation emissions, expected to be adopted in October 2016 under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Whether biological carbon credit should be traded in carbon markets is topical, with discussions ongoing in the UNFCCC, ICAO and the California Cap-and-Trade system. To date, compliance markets have rejected the eligibility of biological carbon offsets. They are right to do so. Fossil and biological carbon operate on different parts of the carbon cycle, and on very different timescales. Fossil carbon is permanent; biological carbon is potentially and frequently subject to rapid fluxes, whether natural or manmade. For these reasons, offset credits from REDD+, afforestation and reforestation or other biological systems should not be treated as fungible with fossil carbon, but should instead be addressed through other, appropriate, policy measures.
A new report from the Öko-Institut shows that the use of forestry offsets to replace efforts in other sectors would undermine the EU’s 2030 climate target by 5%. The legislative proposal for the land use sector that the European Commission is expected to present early next year should therefore uphold the environmental integrity of the EU’s 2030 climate target by treating the emissions and removals from our forests and soils completely separate from the efforts of other sectors.
1. In your view, which of the multiple objectives of agriculture, forestry and other land use will gain most in relative importance by 2030?
It will be critical to ensure the long-term stability of carbon pools for carbon storage, biodiversity protection and ecosystem preservation in the future. Currently the emissions from land use represent a quarter of all human emissions and it is hence vital that the land use sector also contributes to tackling climate change.
The use of biomass is limited due to finite land availability and therefore the use of biomass should follow the cascading hierarchy and only as a last resort be used for lower-quality applications where other viable alternatives exist, which is the case with power generation.
Finally, it should be recognised that food security and sustainable farming should go hand in hand. Actions that support this include no-till farming, silvopastoral practises and demand-side measures to limit excess consumption.
Norway was the third country after Switzerland and the EU to officially submit its climate contribution towards the Paris climate agreement. Like the EU, Norway announced an at least 40% emission reduction target by 2030, which it intends to fulfil jointly with the EU by joining the EU’s 2030 climate framework. While Norway has made it clear that land sector accounting shall not affect its ambition level, the EU has left doors open for forestry accounting tricks. If the EU want to jointly fulfil its 2030 climate target with Norway, the EU must also exclude the option of planting trees to offset emissions.
Brussels, 6 March 2015. Today, EU’s environment ministers presented the EU’s contribution to the international climate agreement to be finalized in Paris by the end of the year. Carbon Market Watch criticises the official contribution for the lack of detail and calls on ministers to specify measures that avoid that hot air and emission removals from forests undermine the 40% domestic emissions reduction target.
Today, the European Commission (EC) has published a first glimpse of the mitigation contributions the EU intends to contribute to the Paris Protocol. The Communication launched today entitled “The Paris Protocol – A blueprint for tackling global climate change beyond 2020” includes a proposal for the EU’s proposed Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs) prepared in …
Read more “European Commission publishes vision on the Paris Protocol to tackle climate change”
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