WINNERS IN CARBON TRADING

This article uses the term “biologic carbon sequestration” to describe the action of trees in offsetting emissions through their photosynthetic respiration which takes in CO2 as a nutrient and gives off oxygen. It uses “geologic sequestration” for the storage of captured emissions underground. Is that proper terminology?

Sale of Carbon Credits Helping Land-Rich but Cash-Poor Tribes
Jim Robbins, May 7, 2007 (NY Times)

WHO
The Nez Perce tribe and other land-rich, cash-poor native tribes joining together in the National Carbon Offset Coalition (NCOC).

WHAT
Land cleared in the 19th century for farming is being reforested in anticipation of income paid to them by large greenhouse gas emitters to offset their emissions. Farmlands can also earn credits if no-till methods are used. Favorable geologic formations may be useful as storage (sequestration) sites for CO2 produced in the burning of gas and coal.

WHEN
- Projects are underway and expected to expand as carbon dioxide credit trading matures from limited, voluntary markets (CCX) into a national marketplace comparable to the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS).
- First tribal trading: early 1990s, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington, sold rights @ 25 cents/metric ton.

WHERE
The National Carbon Offset Coalition is based in Butte, Montana.

WHY
- The Nez Perce tribe has 4,000 acres planted with trees, 29 projects across its 75,000-acre reservation. Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and larch stands planted now will earn credits annually without farming and without waiting for a harvest of the trees. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a voluntary US market, now sells credits for Nez Perce forests, no-till acreage and sequestration sites. This has stimulated tribal foresters to watch over the quality of the plantings, knowing neutral third parties will assess the land’s offset potential.
- 1-2 metric tons of CO2/ acre of pine forest; 1/3 ton CO2/acre untilled cropland. CO2 is now approx $4/metric ton in voluntary markets, could go to $12-15 in a mandatory cap-and-trade system and has reached $20-30/ton on the EU ETS.
- Other tribal programs:
New Washington and Oregon coal-fired power plants are required to offset their emissions; the northwestern Washington Lummi bought and reforested 1,700 logged acres and sold “sequestration rights” (credits?) to a power company.
In 2001, Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Montana.sold 250 acres “sequestration rights” (credits?) to a London company but the trees died from drought and had to be replanted.
click to enlarge
QUOTES
- Brian Kummett, Nez Perce tribal forestry division: “These forests are a carbon crop…We can sell the rights from the time the forest is planted to the time it’s harvested, 80 or 120 years down the road.”
- Ted Dodge, executive director, NCOC: “We need $12 to $15 carbon to really make this work…We’re doing it on small margins. But to bring in a lot more landowners, you need better prices…Biological sequestration credits are a bridge…We can bring them to the table now, but technology may pass us by.”
- Bob Gruenig, National Tribal Environmental Council: The tribes “…see climate change as a really big issue…They are seeing changes in the land, changes in plants and changes in the migration of wildlife…”