Mangrove Restoration and Conservation as a Carbon Offset Option: A Case Study in the Niger Delta Region

Despite their limited global distribution, mangroves have gained attention as a potential carbon offset option due to their high carbon storage capacity and diverse social and environmental co-benefits. Carbon stock in mangroves (global average=2,790tCO2eq/ha) is about four times higher than in terrestrial forests and contributes to almost 10% (37GtCO2eq) of global terrestrial carbon pool. Mangrove carbon sequestration averages 6.9tCO2eq/ha/yr but may reach more than 20tCO2eq/ha/yr. Literature suggests that over 812,000ha of mangrove areas, spread over 106 countries/territories, show potential for restoration. Furthermore, globally, mangroves have been lost at a rate of 1-2%/yr, which may account for an annual emission of about 0.09-0.45 GtCO2eq/yr that can be potentially avoided through conservation actions. Mangroves within the Niger Delta Region (NDR) cover 800,000ha (6% of world extent), and contain an estimated carbon stock of 2.2GtCO2eq. In 2017, Eni's subsidiary Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) launched a voluntary initiative to restore mangroves to promote social and biodiversity benefits while also contributing to offsetting its GHG emissions. A 30-ha pilot restoration area was identified in Okoroma, Bayelsa, where mangroves had failed to naturally recover from oil spills caused by third party interference in 2014. Site assessments were carried out in 2018 and indicated residual soil contamination (hydrocarbons/metals) and low fertility, a typical characteristic of soils in the NDR. A restoration trial (n=90 seedlings) using nursery-reared seedlings resulted in 100% survivorship and high growth rates, confirming the feasibility of active restoration across the entire site. Although soil contamination was lower than when the spills occurred, we concluded that the combination of residual contamination, low soil fertility and site topography had restricted the natural regeneration process. This in turn risked further soil degradation and ultimately erosion and permanent habitat loss. To prevent this from happening, a long-term restoration program based on the transplantation of fertilized seedlings in partnership with local communities is proposed. In addition to the benefits to the local communities and the environmental restoration, this project is expected to allow for the sequestration of 2,970tCO2eq in 20 years and avoid the emission of an estimated 60,000tCO2eq from soil carbon, numbers that could be scaled up in the future to a much larger area. The results of this case study further confirm the possibility of using mangroves as a Natural Climate Solution to offset GHG emissions from O&G operations.

Remote sensing reveals multi-decadal losses of tree cover in California driven by increasing fire disturbance and climate stress

Forests provide natural climate solutions for sequestering carbon and mitigating climate change yet are threatened by increasing temperatures and disturbance. Accurate information on vegetation dynamics is lacking in some regions with forest carbon offset programs and dense forests like California. To address this, we combined remote sensing observations with geospatial databases to develop annual maps of vegetation cover (tree, shrub, herbaceous) and disturbance type (fires, harvest, and forest die-off) in California at 30 m resolution from 1985 to 2021. California lost 3783 km2 of its tree cover area (5.5% relative to initial cover). Early gains in tree cover area were more than offset by fire-driven declines, resulting in greater shrub and herbaceous cover area. Fires and tree cover area loss occurred where temperatures were high or increasing, whereas tree cover gain occurred in cooler areas. Disturbance and warming are threatening the integrity of California's forests and its carbon offsets program.

Hitting Net-Zero Without Stopping Flying: Increasing Air Travelers’ Likelihood to Opt-in to Voluntary Carbon Offsetting

Voluntary carbon offset (VCO) programs give air travelers opportunities to neutralize their carbon footprint. Despite its potential, few existing studies have explained how to present VCOs that can effectively appeal to the sensibilities of travelers in different conditions. We designed three online experiments with strategies to motivate travelers to opt-in. We found travelers who receive concrete messages that emphasize specific actions are more likely to opt-in to VCOs when flying in the near future. In contrast, travelers receiving abstract messages that emphasize general initiatives are more likely to opt-in to VCOs when flying in the distant future. When travelers are allowed to choose their preferred carbon offset method, they are more likely to opt in, especially when they receive concrete messages that indicate specific actions but not general initiatives. These findings contribute to the aviation carbon offset literature and offer useful new insights for airline companies.

Economic Policies to Curb Global Warming - A Case of Papua New Guinea

<p>Global warming is a serious problem which requires an urgent solution. In economics context, economists believe that carbon pricing, specifically carbon tax and its mirror image, cap and trade, are the best options and they suggest all countries should use it to address global warming (Goulder & Schein, 2013). However, advantages and disadvantages of carbon pricing have often resulted in some countries accepting the idea and some rejecting it. Therefore, this literature explains how the carbon tax, and cap-and trade work; the probability of their success, specifically in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and how to attract countries that resist the idea of carbon pricing into implementing it. And finally, this article explains why a carbon offset scheme, under cap and trade, best fits developing countries and which Papua New Guinea can use to improve the lives of its citizens while, at the same time, reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. </p>

Economic Policies to Curb Global Warming - A Case of Papua New Guinea

<p>Global warming is a serious problem which requires an urgent solution. In economics context, economists believe that carbon pricing, specifically carbon tax and its mirror image, cap and trade, are the best options and they suggest all countries should use it to address global warming (Goulder & Schein, 2013). However, advantages and disadvantages of carbon pricing have often resulted in some countries accepting the idea and some rejecting it. Therefore, this literature explains how the carbon tax, and cap-and trade work; the probability of their success, specifically in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and how to attract countries that resist the idea of carbon pricing into implementing it. And finally, this article explains why a carbon offset scheme, under cap and trade, best fits developing countries and which Papua New Guinea can use to improve the lives of its citizens while, at the same time, reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. </p>

Comments: How Real Are Carbon Offsets?

Purchasing carbon offsets is a widespread means of attempting to meet carbon-reduction and net-zero emissions goals across many industries. Also widespread is the increasing scrutiny of the practice. How “real” are the offsets? How are they quantified and verified, and by whom? Purchasing carbon offsets, or carbon credits, is an option when a company’s efforts to eliminate its carbon emissions through mitigation methods fall short. The offsets are purchased through investments in projects that remove carbon from the atmosphere such as nature-based solutions (e.g., REDD, or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), negative-emission technologies (including carbon capture and storage [CCS] and bioenergy with CCS), and renewable energy. Here’s where the criticism arises: How is the amount of carbon captured by these projects measured? For example, how much carbon can a tree or forest handle? Are all trees equal in their carbon intake? The uncertainty and variability in carbon-accumulation rates is acknowledged in research studies that are attempting to provide quantification. A study published in Nature compiled more than 13,000 georeferenced measurements to determine the rates for the first 30 years of natural forest regrowth. A map showed more than 100-fold variation in rates across the globe and indicated that default rates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may underestimate the rates by 32% on average and do not capture eightfold variation within ecozones. On the other hand, the study concluded that the maximum mitigation potential from natural forest regrowth is 11% lower than previously reported because of the use of overly high rates for locations of potential new forest. While the study was not intended to provide verification to be used in the carbon-offset market, it points to the difficulty in getting the numbers right. Third-party verifiers are casting light on the validity of offsets. Various organizations such as the Climate Registry and the American Carbon Registry (ACR) aim to set standards and best practices. In both the regulated and voluntary carbon markets, ACR says it “oversees the registration and verification of carbon-offset projects following approved carbon accounting methodologies or protocols and issues offsets on a transparent registry system.” In July, CarbonPlan, a nonprofit that analyzes climate solutions based on the best available science and data, rated BCarbon, a standard created by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, as one of the best publicly available protocols for soil carbon offsets in the US. BCarbon, a nature-based mitigation system, aims to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in soil as organic carbon. Based on independent verification and certification requirements, the credits under the system are issued for the removal of CO2 by photosynthesis and storage as carbon in soil. Landowners are eligible for storage payments. The Baker Institute said the approach could unlock the potential for removal, storage, and certification of upwards of 1 billion tons of CO2 and lead to the protection and restoration of hundreds of millions of acres of grassland. Scrutiny of carbon offsets is beneficial in this expanding carbon market. Verification and certification will serve to increase the trust of both buyers and sellers—and the public—in what will likely be a bridge toward longer-term solutions to reduce global carbon emissions. And getting the numbers right is essential.

Natural capital will be a growth area for investment

Significance Investors are increasingly interested in the financial value of the natural world and how to fit it into their investment strategies. As well as decreasing carbon emissions, the focus is shifting to how to protect nature overall through methods such as reforestation, sustainable agriculture, ocean conservation and increasing biodiversity. Impacts Asset managers are likely to launch an array of innovative nature-linked products. Carbon-offset projects will dominate asset inflows for now, but their attractions are limited and eventually they will be superseded. More banks are likely to introduce nature-based goals within their sustainability-linked loans. The pressure for greater transparency, accountability and measurable metrics will grow in the natural capital asset class.

Report: Status of Legal Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’, Local Communities’ and Afro-descendant Peoples’ Rights to Carbon Stored in Tropical Lands and Forests

This study reviews the status of the legal recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples to the carbon in their lands and territories across 31 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Together, these countries hold almost 70 percent of the world’s tropical forests and represent at least 62 percent of the total feasible natural climate solution potential, and thus the bulk of nature-based emissions reductions and carbon offset opportunities in tropical and subtropical forest countries.