Carbon-accounting methods and reforestation incentives
Oscar Cacho, Robyn Hean and Russell Wise
Contributed Paper to the 46th Annual Conference of the Australian
Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
13-15th February 2002
The emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, and the consequent
potential for climate change are the focus of increasing international concern.
Eventually, an international agreement will likely be enacted to reduce greenhouse
gas emission levels and assign rules for emission trading within and between
countries. Temporary land-use change and forestry projects (LUCF) can be implemented
to offset permanent emissions of carbon dioxide from the energy sector. Several
approaches to accounting for carbon sequestration in LUCF projects have been
proposed. In this paper, the economic implications of adopting some of these
approaches are evaluated in a normative context, based on simulation of Australian
farm-forestry systems.