CARBON SEQUESTRATION By plantations and harvested wood products

as a climate change mitigation option

Iain Kerr | PAMSA

Sequestration in Draft Carbon Tax Bill

Sequestration refers to increases in

the amounts of carbon contained in

forests, forest products and landfills.1

1 Miner, R. and J. Perez-Garcia (2007). "The greenhouse gas and carbon profile of the global forest

products industry." Forest Products Journal 57(10).

Sequestration in Draft Carbon Tax Bill

• 2015: National Treasury included carbon sequestration in

Draft Carbon Tax Bill.

• Sequestration by trees in carbon tax calculation and small

afforestation as an offset play vital role in mitigating

climate change. (www.thepaperstory.co.za)

Sequestration in harvested wood products

• Sequestration, especially in harvested wood products (HWP), is expected to increase in importance as demand for products increases.• Due to population growth and increasing

standards of living.

• Growth can also include substitution of wood-based products for more greenhouse gas-intensive products.• e.g replacing concrete beams with

wooden beams in construction

• Significant benefits via avoided emissions.

Cycling of wood in wood and paper

products

Forest carbon sequestration

• Carbon is sequestered in forests used to supply fibre

to the industry and in forest products. Because the

stocks of carbon in sustainably managed forests,

averaged over time and area, are relatively stable,

net sequestration is determined primarily by the fate

of carbon transferred into products. (Miner and Perez-Garcia, 2007)

• Not entirely true in South African context:

Although there has been little increase in land

planted to trees over the years, yields have

increased significantly. This is due to very

successful tree breeding programmes that

have been implemented by PAMSA members.

South African plantation productivity

• Ave. productivity increase from 1980 to 2015:• 3.2 m3ha-1y-1 (32%) (FSA, 2017)

• During same period, afforested area increased by only 5.1%.

• Assuming average wood density remained similar throughout, this implies carbon storage increase in growing stock of about 32%.

Plantation area (1980 to 2015)

Source: Forestry South

Africa (Godsmark, 2013)

Plantation forest carbon flows (Gg C)

(2011)Total input of carbon 5,328 Gg; total output 4 470 Gg.

Thus, overall increase in carbon stock of 857.3 Gg.

This amounts to 1.9% increase based on initial stock

of 44,310 Gg at start of 2011.

Half-lives of harvested wood products

• Harvested Wood Products (HWPs) considered as means

of carbon sequestration in second commitment period of

Kyoto Protocol.

• IPCC has introduced average (service) life multiplied by

ln(2) as so-called “Half-Life” (HL) to define period for

accounting carbon sequestration in wood products.

Braun, M., et al. (2016). "Apparent Half-Life-Dynamics of Harvested Wood Products (HWPs)

in Austria: Development and analysis of weighted time-series for 2002 to 2011." Forest Policy

and Economics 63: 28-34.

Harvested wood products

• HWP according to the IPCC good practice guidance (2003) include

wood and paper products.

• Does not include carbon in harvested trees that are left at harvest sites.

• Carbon in HWP pool is accounted for based on semi-finished wood

product categories: sawnwood, wood-based panels and paper and

paper products with default half-lives of 35, 25 and 2 years,

respectively, stipulated by the IPCC (agreed in Durban at COP17).

• HWP originating from imported wood must be excluded from the

accounting. HWP originating from deforestation activities must be

accounted for on the basis of instantaneous oxidation.

HWP categories for paper

• Paper comes in many

grades.

• Each grade consists of

different types of pulp with

different levels of lignin in

each.

• Lignin is resistant to

biodegradation

• Therefore one would expect

each to have a different half-life

if, at the end of life, it ends up in

landfill.

1. Newsprint

2. Coated free sheet

3. Uncoated free sheet

4. Coated groundwood

5. Tissue and sanitary

6. Speciality

7. Kraft packaging

8. Linerboard

9. Corrugating medium

10. Solid bleached board

11. Recycled board

12. Construction paper and board

HWP disposed to landfill

If, when taken out of use,

products are disposed of in

a modern landfill, the

literature indicates that they

will stay there indefinitely

with almost no decay.Skog, K. E. and G. A. Nicholson (1998). "Carbon

cycling through wood products: the role of wood and

paper products in carbon sequestration." Forest

Products Journal 48(7): 75-83.

Newspaper from day after JFK was

assassinated (23 November 1963) found

preserved in a landfill in East LA.

HWP disposed to landfill

Estimated maximum proportions of

wood and paper converted to CO2 or

CH4 in landfills.

Product type Maximum % carbon converted

Solid wood 3

Newsprint 16

Coated paper 18

Boxboard 32

Office paper 38

What about:

• Dissolving pulp

• Lignosulphonate

• Xylose

• Nanocellulose

• And other products

from biorefineries?

(Skog and Nicholson 1998)

Carbon sequestered by HWP in Denmark

Schou, E., et al. (2015). "Carbon sequestration in harvested wood products (HWP)”

Carbon sequestered by HWP in Ireland

Carbon inflow to HWP in end uses in Ireland (Gg) from 1961 to 2009

Donlan, J., et al. (2012). "Carbon storage in harvested wood products for Ireland 1961–2009." Biomass and Bioenergy 46: 731-738.

Carbon stored in HWP in U.S.

• Skog and Nicholson (1998) calculated that the United

States accumulated 2.7 Pg of carbon in the pool of wood

and paper products in use and in landfills and dumps

between 1910 and 1990.

• On an annual basis, net sequestration of carbon in U.S.

wood and paper products (additions including net

imports, minus emissions from decay and burning each

year) is projected to increase from 61 Tg/year in 1990 to

74 Tg/year by 2040.

Carbon storage in South African HWP

SA GHG Inventory 2015:

• 732 Gg CO2 stored in HWP (199 Gg C).

• IPCC Tier 2 approach used.

• Updated FAO data was incorporated.

PAMSA STUDY:

• Total carbon stored in solid

HWP in 2011: 7,968 Gg CO2

(2,984 Gg C)

• Offset approx. 3% of CO2

emissions from South Africa.

• IPCC Tier 3 production

approach used.

Carbon storage in South African HWP

HWP sequestration in South African HWP in 2011

Modelling of HWP product pools

Components most frequently

missing are:

• decomposition in landfills,

• recycling and

• existence of a value chain

substitution effect

In general, no single model

can be considered as best

standard against which all

others can be compared.

Jasinevičius, G., Lindner, M., Pingoud, K., & Tykkylainen, M. (2015). Review of models

for carbon accounting in harvested wood products. International Wood Products

Journal, 6(4), 198–212

Conclusions and recommendations

HWP can play a significant role in mitigating climate

change.

No standard methodology for

determining carbon stored in HWP.

SA needs to decide on an agreed accounting

method for determining HWP pools.

Definition of HWP should include by-

products from forest products industry.

Determine half-lives of all local HWP including

all grades of SA conditions.

Make available more land for growing of plantation

trees as offset; to produce more HWP (mentioned in

draft LEDS).

Substitution of HWP for more energy intensive materials such as steel, bricks and mortar etc.

is a mitigation opportunity.

About PAMSA

• Represents more than 95% of paper, paper packaging and

tissue manufacturers in South Africa.

• Actively advancing ‘story of paper’ since foundation in 1992.

• Some industry members have global footprints, but origins

are firmly rooted in SA, as forest and land owners, and pulp

and paper producers, as well as recyclers.

• As an industry we focus on conscientious environmental

stewardship, resource efficiency, innovation and

transformation.

www.thepaperstory.co.za

The wonder of wood, the potential of pulp

Timber and wood

Printing & writing

Packaging Tissue

ViscoseBio-fuels and

chemicals

Xylitol Nanocellulose

Farmed trees provide our world with conventionaland innovative products.

THANK YOUwww.thepaperstory.co.za

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