Forestry Projects under the Clean Development Mechanism?

Afforestation is considered an important option for mitigation of greenhousegas emissions. Recently, plantation projects have been suggested for inclusionunder the Clean Development Mechanism. While considered a cheap option,significant uncertainties make it difficult to determine the (net) carbonbenefits and profitability of forestry projects. The current uncertaintiesabout the regulatory framework of the CDM and the environmental and economicperformance of plantation forestry could create uncertainties with respect tothe additionality of such projects and thus their acceptance under themechanism.Six plantation forestry projects that were proposed in Brazil have been usedas cases to study sources of uncertainty for carbon benefits and economics forsuch projects. These cases vary widely in terms of productivity and productsdelivered. A quantitative model for calculating greenhouse gas balances andfinancial benefits and costs, taking a broad range of variables into account,was developed. Data from the developers of the proposed projects was used asmain source material. Subsequently, scenario's were evaluated, containingdifferent and realistic options for baseline vegetation, carbon creditingsystems and CDM modalities, fluctuations in product prices, discount rates andcarbon prices.The real cost of combined carbon sequestration and substitution for the caseprojects was below $3 per ton of carbon avoided, when based exclusivelyon data supplied by project developers. However, potential variations incarbon impact and costs based on scenario options were very large. Differentbaseline vegetation or adopting a different discount rate cause carbon creditsto vary by as much as an order of magnitude. Different carbon crediting systemsor fluctuations in (commodity) product prices cause variations up to200% in carbon credits and NPV. This makes the additionality of suchprojects difficult to determine. Five of the six case projects seem uneligiblefor development under the CDM. A critical attitude towards the use ofplantation projects under the CDM seems justified.