The reality of carbon accounting for tree planting and forest management offset projects

Transcription

1 UoVT 28 January 2008 The reality of carbon accounting for tree planting and forest management offset projects Jutta Kill FERN Climate Campaign The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU

2 1 Theory behind selling carbon offset credits from tree planting 2 Realities of carbon offset projects involving tree planting The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU

3 Tackling a common misconception about carbon offsets: It is important to remember. no carbon offset deal reduces emissions! Even in classroom theory, the net climatic benefit of even the best carbon offset project is... 0

4 What makes carbon offsets involving tree planting different from other offsets? carbon storage in trees is temporary but the carbon release from fossil fuel burning is permanent! Active Carbon Cycle: Carbon is always moving between the forests, atmosphere and oceans. The overall amount in all three carbon stores together does not increase Many reasons why carbon stored in trees is released

5 Trees are not a safe way to store fossil carbon out of harm s way!

6 Trees are not a safe way to store fossil carbon out of harm s way!

7 Trees are not a safe way to store fossil carbon out of harm s way!

8 Trees are not a safe way to store fossil carbon out of harm s way! In many areas where tree planting offset projects are established, conflicts over land rights, title and access are a reality Tupinikim and Guarani demarcate their traditional territory which has been occupied for decades by Aracruz Cellulose s eucalyptus plantations.

9 What makes carbon offsets involving tree planting different from other offsets? Active Carbon Cycle: Carbon is always moving between the forests, atmosphere and oceans. The overall amount in all three carbon stores together does not increase Deforestation and forest loss have upset the balance within the active carbon pool by releasing large amounts of carbon from the forests into the atmosphere

10 Penan in Sarawak protest against industrial logging destroying their land Logging damage in Sarawak is severe. Logging roads extend all the way to the borders of Kalimantan, unless an area is legally protected. Very little primary (hill) forest appears to be left.

11 What makes carbon offsets involving tree planting different from other offsets? Fossil Carbon Pool: Fossil carbon is locked away in the geological reservoir and does naturally not come in contact with the atmosphere. It is stored permanently UNLESS humans mine coal, extract oil & gas. Once released, fossil carbon will not move back into the geological reservoir for millennia

12 Fallacy of the Kyoto Protocol and carbon offset schemes: 1 tonne of active carbon = 1 tonne of fossil carbon = Planting more trees justifies burning more fossil fuel Which in turn exacerbates speed of climate change and its impacts on forests What are the consequences of this false assumption?

13 More Climate Change Tree planting is used to justify. more oil extraction more coal mining more fossil fuel burning The positive image of planting a tree is used while the problems of tree planting when sold as a carbon offset are withheld => misleading

14 Undeniably, having more trees will work in the right direction but to a minute degree. For its practical effect, telling people to plant trees to slow climate change is like telling them to drink more water to keep down rising sea-levels. Oliver Rackham, Cambridge University "To offset air-travel-related emissions of tourism on a global scale for the year 2000 alone (about Mt C-equiv.), it would be necessary to afforest an area of about 28,800 km 2." Land area Vermont: 24,000 km²

15 carbon neutral conference

16 carbon neutral motorsports...

17 CDM Project in Brasil CDM registration despite company s private security guards murdering local peasant: UTE Barreiro S.A. Renewable Electricity Generation Project in Minas Gerais, Brasil. CDM Project 0143 by Vallourec & Mannesmann do Brasil [T]he FSC certificate has been terminated following the killing of a local farmer by armed guards working for V&M and continued harassment of local residents ever since the incident [in February 2007]. IFC originally brokered the project but severed ties when controversies did not stop The FSC certificate is the only reference cited in both PDD and validation report to substantiate the claim that the plantations are managed sustainably and that thus the project can claim to produce renewable energy. FERN letter 13. June 2007 to CDM Executive Board

18 The FACE Foundation s Mt Elgon offset project in Uganda We just have to admit that we know nothing about the trade in CO2 trade, neither how it will function nor how much the foreign investor will profit from it. Uganda forest department official in 2000 In 1993 the Ugandan government declared Mount Elgon a national park and forcibly evicted indigenous peoples. In 2002, rangers evicted another 300 families. The Benet people won a court case confirming their claim to the land inside the park.

19 The FACE Foundation s Mt Elgon offset project in Uganda Ezera Wandeka, 72, was one of the richest farmers in one village on the border of Mt Elgon National Park until his fields were declared to be illegally inside the park, and he was evicted. Wandeka kept the title to his land after rangers set fire to his home and evicted him and other farmers. Villagers amid corn planted on what the government says is national park, but which they claim has belonged to them for generations and for which many of them hold title documents. To plant the corn, the villagers chopped down trees planted by the Dutch FACE Foundation as part of a carbon offset project.

20 What is crucial now the importance to learn from past policy failures before embarking on yet another initiative doomed to fail Wrong financing instrument = more Climate Change The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU

21 Chicago Climate Exchange Membership in the Forest Products Sector: Abitibi-Consolidated Aracruz Celulose S.A. Arcelor Mittal Florestas Ltda Cenibra Nipo Brasiliera S.A. International Paper Klabin S.A. Masisa S.A. MeadWestvaco Corp. Neenah Paper Incorporated Stora Enso North America Suzano Papel E Celulose SA Tembec Industries Inc. Temple-Inland Inc

22 Carbon offsets - financial flows at the margins Mrd$ Subventionen fur fossile Brennstoffe pro Jahr Wert des Emissionshandels 2010 in the 10 years after Rio, the World Bank invested over US$22 billion in 226 oil, gas and coal projects in the South 0 What we see looking forward is large investments in the oil sector IFC Director of oil, mining and gas, Rashad Kaldany in 2000

23 the importance to learn from past policy failures before embarking on yet another initiative doomed to fail PEDRO MOURA COSTA, co-founder of EcoSecurities, 44, made 4.8 million GBP (US$10 million) when he sold some shares in the firm which helps convert emission cuts into tradable carbon credits. His remaining shares are worth about 37 million pounds (US$73 million). No consideration of gender dimension = more Climate Change

24 The importance to ensure policy coherence Deforestation biodiesel Peat drainage: CO 2 release 2-8x higher than direct fossil fuel burning

25 1C Fosseway Business Centre Stratford Road Moreton-in-Marsh GL56 9NQ UK t +44 (0) e jutta@fern.org The campaigning NGO for greater environmental and social justice, with a focus on forests and forest peoples rights in the policies and practices of the EU

26 Chicago Climate Exchange Tree planting offsets: Delta P2/E2 Center IL Econergy International Corporation Brazil Precious Woods Holding Ltd. Switzerland Costa Rica