Carbon Sequestration through forestry relies on the natural process of photosynthesis, which uses carbon dioxide from the atmosphere together with sunlight in a chemical reaction to produce oxygen and glucose. The carbon dioxide from the atmosphere used in photosynthesis is effectively captured in the structure of the tree.

Since the advent of climate change due to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, carbon sequestration had been recognised as a natural process that can be used to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide existing in the atmosphere. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Scheme (GGAS) Carbon Sequestration Rule provides the opportunity for forestry managers to create abatement certificates for sequestering carbon.

The number of abatement certificates that can be created from forestry activity can vary greatly on a per hectare basis. The rate at which carbon is sequestered through forestry is dependant upon many factors including tree species type, rainfall levels and soil condition.

To be eligible to create abatement certificates from carbon sequestration, there are a number of requirements under the Carbon Sequestration Rule that need to be satisfied. The following provides some basic detail on the eligibility criteria under GGAS. For a broader overview of carbon sequestration under GGAS, please refer to the Carbon Sequestration Guide to Applying.

Eligibility for accreditation

To create abatement certificates from forestry activities, a party must be accredited under GGAS as a ‘Sequestration Pool Manager’. Essentially a Sequestration Pool Manager:

• owns or controls the Carbon Sequestration Rights registered on the eligible land on which the forestry activity takes place;
• has management arrangements and policies in place that demonstrate the capacity to satisfy clause 73ID of the Regulation in regard to continued storage of the carbon sequestered for creation of NSW Greenhouse Abatement Certificates (NGACs); and
• has adequate procedures in place with respect to hazards and risks to the eligible forests.

The Sequestration Pool Manager does not necessarily have to own the parcels of land that make up its portfolio of forests (the sequestration pool). The accreditation framework has been designed with the objective of allowing as many interested foresters and landholders to participate either directly as a Sequestration Pool Manager or indirectly, participating as a member of a Sequestration Pool Manager’s sequestration pool. In the latter case, the Sequestration Pool Manager is effectively an ‘agent’ through which the land owner can contribute to the creation of abatement certificates.

For more information on the carbon sequestration accreditation framework, please refer to the Carbon Sequestration Guide to Applying.

Eligible Forestry Activities

For a forest to be eligible to create abatement certificates in GGAS, it must meet the definition of afforestation or reforestation that is specified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The activity must take place on Kyoto-Consistent Land, that is, land that was predominantly non-forest prior to 1 January 1990. Only sequestration that takes place after 1 January 2003 may be accounted for and eligible to create abatement certificates under GGAS.

There is a one hundred year minimum level of permanency required under the Regulation for continued storage of carbon. To satisfy this timescale of permanency, a ‘Restriction on Use’ legal instrument is entered between the landowner, the Sequestration Pool Manager and the Scheme Administrator.

The Carbon Sequestration Rule acknowledges a wide scope of forestry activities as eligible to create abatement certificates. In terms of forest size, the minimum specifications are:

• 0.2 hectare land mass
• 20 per cent crown cover of land mass
• 2m height capacity of tree species.

A range of forestry management practices are possible under GGAS. Permanent forestry, forests planted with no intent of harvest is one accepted method of forestry management. The chart shown in Figure 1 depicts the typical stocks of carbon achieved through the planting of a permanent forest.

Figure 1. Permanent Forest carbon storage

Depending on the scale of forestry activities, the Sequestration Pool Manager may also achieve permanent carbon storage whilst rotating the harvest of plantations in the sequestration pool. Figure 2 depicts how a rotation of planting and harvesting can maintain a permanent volume of carbon storage.

Figure 2. Plant-grow-harvest carbon storage

Each line in the chart represents a plantation within the sequestration pool. By having numerous plantations growing and being harvested at staggered time intervals, it is possible to maintain a permanent level of carbon stocks (the horizontal line in the chart).

Modeling and measuring carbon stock changes

The Carbon Sequestration Rule specifies the acceptable parameters to be used in estimating carbon sequestration and calculation of carbon stock changes; however the specific methodology used is purposely left to the Sequestration Pool Manager to determine. Many different models for carbon sequestration are available.

One of these models is the National Carbon Accounting Toolbox (NCAT), developed by the Australian Government as part of the National Carbon Accounting System. The NCAT provides a consistent approach for tracking greenhouse gas emissions and carbon stock changes from land use and management, including forestry activities. You can obtain a copy of the NCAT by visiting http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/ncas/

As set out in the Carbon Sequestration Rule , Sequestration Pool Managers are expected to apply the Interim Australia Standard AS4978.1(Int.)2002 – Carbon Accounting for Greenhouse Sinks Part 1:Afforestation and Reforestation, in maintaining, measuring and monitoring carbon stock changes in the sequestration pool.

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