Summary
Establishing a framework that places a value on carbon and thereby gives financial incentives for businesses and households to incorporate climate change impacts of their activities into their decisions is of key importance for the Government.
Valuing carbon is also important in comparing the relative merits of climate change mitigation activities over time.
Establishing a robust framework that values forestry carbon will be essential if the forestry sector is to be encouraged to play a greater role in helping to meet national carbon emission reduction commitments, and if significant opportunities for climate change mitigation by the sector are not to be missed.
Developing the Woodland Carbon Code in the UK is a potentially important step in providing a surer foundation upon which such a framework could be based.
Summary of the research , findings and recommendations (PDF-212K)
Review
A review of approaches to carbon valuation, discounting and risk management (along with a review of approaches to carbon additionality) have been undertaken to help inform the development of the above code of practice:
- Background
- Estimating the social value of carbon
- Current (2009) UK Government guidance
- Current (2009) relationship to market price
- References
Research report
Forests and carbon: valuation, discounting and risk management (PDF-1168K)
Reviewing methods to value carbon over time, examining approaches for dealing with risk and considering approaches that could be used in extending standards to forestry more generally in voluntary carbon markets in the UK.
Contact
For further information contact:
Gregory Valatin
Northern Research Station
Forest Research
Roslin
Midlothian
Scotland EH25 9SY
Email: gregory.valatin@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
See also further information on climate-change related research being conducted by Forest Research
