Forest carbon accounting under the Kyoto Protocol and REDD+

Accounting vs Reporting

Accounting for (LULUCF activities)

Context: paragraph 1(c) of the “Principles” of 16/CMP.1, where it states: “That the aim stated in Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Kyoto Protocol not be changed by accounting for land use, land-use change and forestry activities.” Parties to the Kyoto Protocol to account for certain LULUCF activities to meet their emission reduction commitments under KP Article 3. This is different to reporting on LULUCF, which is a requirement (commitment) for all Parties to the UNFCCC (both Annex I and Non-Annex I Parties) in their national inventories (see Convention Article 4.1(a)).

REDD-plus REDD+ mitigation activities as defined by Dec. 1/CP.16

Deforestation

Deforestation Degradation Sustainable management of forests

Enhancement of forest carbon stock

Conservation

National activities for non-Annex I Parties

REDD+ in a UNFCCC/IPCC: Rules of the Game REDD-plus: Decision 4/CP.15

Par. 1 Requests developing country Parties, ….. to take the following guidance into account ….. to measurement and reporting: c) To use the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidance and guidelines, as adopted or encouraged by the Conference of the Parties, ……..

Decision 4/CP.15: Methodological guidance for REDD-plus

• Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines

• 2000 Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management(GPG2000)

• Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (GPG-LULUCF)

• 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories(2006 IPCC Guidelines)

IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories

Forestry in KP KP forestry mitigation activities as defined by Art. 3.3 and 3.4

Deforestation

Deforestation Forest management

Reforestation Afforestation

Forest management

National activities for Annex I Parties

Forestry in UNFCCC Land Classification under UNFCCC

Wetland, Settlement, Other land

Cropland

Managed forestland Managed grassland

Unmanaged forestland

Unmanaged grassland

Six land use categories >12 sub-categories > sub-divisions

Forestry in KP

Land Classification under KP:

Wetland, Settlement, Other land

Cropland management

Managed forest Managed grassland

Unmanaged forest Unmanaged

grassland

AR CM GM FM RV D GM

RV D

RV D

Six land use categories with activity based reporting

Forestry accounting rules in KP

3.3 (ARD) • Accounting (gross-net) shall begin with the onset of the activity or the

beginning of the CP, whichever comes later. • If during the first commitment period ARD activities result in net emissions,

these can be compensated with removals from FM, if elected, up to 9.0 M t C times 5.

3.4 (FM, CM, GM, RV) • Activities subject to election by the Party • FM: gross-net accounting with cap. Emissions and removals from FM can be

included in the accounting only up to a cap value times five. The cap is symmetrical (is valid also for emissions), includes also FM activities under Article 6 and it is applied after any compensation for emissions from ARD.

• CM, GM and RV: net-net accounting.

Accounting : net-net vs gross-net

Net-net system

Reduced emission

Reference period

Implementation period

time

Car

bon

stoc

ks

Accounting : net-net vs gross-net

Gross-net system

emissions

start end Implementation period

time

Car

bon

stoc

ks

removals reference

level

REDD-plus accounting ?

REDD-plus has been recognized as a potential mitigation mechanism under UNFCCC-LCA but until now still no negotiations on REDD-plus accounting. However in the current REDD-plus decision texts there are several indications that are suggesting that REDD-plus accounting will be similar to the accounting for LULUCF of Annex-I Parties (e.g. activities based approach, national scale, etc.). In this scenario REDD-plus will be used for Annex-I Parties emissions off-set, but several limitations will be included in the accounting rules.

Expectations under REDD-plus

“This indicates that sustainable forest management with reduced-impact logging helps to protect above-ground biomass. In absolute terms, a conservative amount of 10.5 t C/ha per year, as documented using the methodology developed in this study, can be attributed to the different management systems, which will be of interest when implementing REDD+ that rewards the enhancement of carbon stocks.”

Expectations under REDD-plus

“Calculating with a price of 14 € per ton of CO2 (as currently traded on the European Energy Exchange market) reveals that the C sequestration potential by enrichment planting in selectively logged forest could achieve a market value as high as 2,065–3,879 € ha for a project duration of approximately 60 years. Compared to the profitability of converting selectively logged forest into palm oil plantations (2,817–7,075 € over a 30 year period) the revenue from C credits is still lower.”

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