Green Sacrifice Zones, or Why a Green New Deal Cannot Ignore the Cost Shifts of Just Transitions

Zografos, Christos; Robbins, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.10.012

Cited by 140 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Expanding multi-gas eddy covariance networks can provide equitable and economically attractive green policy [35] partnerships for the ~38 million km 2 representing ~25% of the world's land surface managed or land tenured by Indigenous Peoples [46]. In contrast, the high cost and maintenance of the UN-REDD program associated with mensuration protocols and Indigenous Peoples land management and rights represent barriers to entry and economic benefits, including discount pricing for carbon offsets [74], [75].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NEE approach, reported in 600+ forest carbon and GHG studies [30], provides the foundation for commercial applications across small and large landscapes [1], [31], [32], and three-gas forest products (CO2, CH4, N2O), integrating gas fluxes (tower and soil accumulation chambers) and respective social costs [33]. Emissions linked to their social cost and corresponding offset revenue potential, now and in the future, are applicable to realization of Green New Deal policies [34], that otherwise lack specificity regarding the role of forests and carbon pricing in reducing GHG emissions [35]- [37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux Record (CO2, CH4, N2O) Establishes New Forest Products Linked to Social Cost of Emission in Contrast to Carbon Limited Sequestration Proxies

Marino¹,

Bautista²,

Rousseaux³

2021

Preprint

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Forest carbon sequestration is a widely accepted natural climate solution, however, methods to determine net carbon offsets are limited to commercial carbon proxies and CO2 eddy covariance research. Non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) (e.g., CH4, N2O) receive less attention in the context of forests, in part, due to emphasis on CO2 and the operational requirements and cost for three-gas eddy covariance platforms. In this study, Howland forest flux tower (CO2, CH4) and soil flux data (CO2, CH4, N2O), representing net emission reductions, are linked to their respective social costs to estimate commercial revenue if sold as a GHG social cost forest offset product (GHG-SCF). Estimated annual revenue for GHG-SCF products, applicable to realization of a Green New Deal, range from ~$120,000 covering the site area of ~557 acres in 2021, to ~$12,000,000 for extrapolation to 40,000 acres in 2040, assuming a 3% discount rate. The Howland Forest CO2 flux record for two adjacent towers is compared to California Air Resources Board forest carbon proxy data for compliance sequestration offsets, the only project site where these approaches overlap. Overcrediting, incomplete carbon accounting with annual errors of up to 2,256%, inadequate third-party verification, and limited application to non-CO2 GHG’s are established. In contrast, direct measurement of one or more GHG’s offers new forest products and revenue incentives to restore and conserve forests worldwide.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux Record (CO2, CH4, N2O) Establishes New Forest Products Linked to Social Cost of Emission in Contrast to Carbon Limited Sequestration Proxies

Marino¹,

Bautista²,

Rousseaux³

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This debt, in turn, is not accounted for by the expected profits coming from debt liquidity through the scaling up of production and finance. On the contrary, it is required to construct competitive, productive and appealing investments that remunerate capital while shifting costs and creating green sacrifice zones located beyond the boundaries of the global north (Zografos and Robbins 2020).…”

Section: Green Bonds Hit the Ground In The Brazilian Forestry Sector: Global Finance Newmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capitalizing on Green Debt

Ferrando

Junqueira

Vecchione-Gonçalves

et al. 2021

JWSR

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Green bonds represent an increasingly popular way to match “environmental sustainability,” growth, and the aspirations of global financial capital. In this article, we leverage a world-ecology approach to unpack and make sense of green bonds as public/private constructions that shape and subordinate the complex ecologies of territories to the needs of finance and reproduce the global patterns of uneven development and capitalist accumulation. Through the study of recent green bond issuances realized by private companies active in the forestry sector in Brazil, we discuss how green bonds as a “new” form of “green” debt put nature at work and transform the territories and natural elements in the global south into “temporal and spatial fixes” for the needs of global financial capital.

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“…However, the social cost of GHGs represents, in theory, the monetary value of the net harm to society linked to the emission of one ton of a GHG each year and is used here to value social cost linked offsets [33]. Emissions linked to their social cost and corresponding offset revenue potential, now and in the future, are fundamental to the realization of Green New Deal policies [34] mandating emission reductions, but lacking specificity of the role of forests and GHG pricing in green policies [35][36][37]. The expense and operational challenges of measuring multiple GHGs are justified given their high global warming potential (e.g., CH 4 (28-36x); N 2 O (265-298x), 100-year lifetime) relative to CO 2 [33], the availability of~4 billion forested hectares globally, the high value of GHG data for fundamental ecosystem studies and model validation [38], and as innovative GHG forest products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux (CO2, CH4, N2O) Social Cost Product Underscores Limited Carbon Proxies

Marino

Bautista

Rousseaux

2021

Land

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Forest carbon sequestration is a widely accepted natural climate solution. However, methods to determine net carbon offsets are based on commercial carbon proxies or CO2 eddy covariance research with limited methodological comparisons. Non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) (e.g., CH4, N2O) receive less attention in the context of forests, in part, due to carbon denominated proxies and to the cost for three-gas eddy covariance platforms. Here we describe and analyze results for direct measurement of CO2, CH4, and N2O by eddy covariance and forest carbon estimation protocols at the Howland Forest, ME, the only site where these methods overlap. Limitations of proxy-based protocols, including the exclusion of sink terms for non-CO2 GHGs, applied to the Howland project preclude multi-gas forest products. In contrast, commercial products based on direct measurement are established by applying molecule-specific social cost factors to emission reductions creating a new forest offset (GHG-SCF), integrating multiple gases into a single value of merit for forest management of global warming. Estimated annual revenue for GHG-SCF products, applicable to the realization of a Green New Deal, range from ~$120,000 USD covering the site area of ~557 acres in 2021 to ~$12,000,000 USD for extrapolation to 40,000 acres in 2040, assuming a 3% discount rate. In contrast, California Air Resources Board compliance carbon offsets determined by the Climate Action Reserve protocol show annual errors of up to 2256% relative to eddy covariance data from two adjacent towers across the project area. Incomplete carbon accounting, offset over-crediting and inadequate independent offset verification are consistent with error results. The GHG-SCF product contributes innovative science-to-commerce applications incentivizing restoration and conservation of forests worldwide to assist in the management of global warming.

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Green Sacrifice Zones, or Why a Green New Deal Cannot Ignore the Cost Shifts of Just Transitions

Cited by 140 publications

References 8 publications

Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux Record (CO2, CH4, N2O) Establishes New Forest Products Linked to Social Cost of Emission in Contrast to Carbon Limited Sequestration Proxies

Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux Record (CO2, CH4, N2O) Establishes New Forest Products Linked to Social Cost of Emission in Contrast to Carbon Limited Sequestration Proxies

Capitalizing on Green Debt

Howland Forest, ME, USA: Multi-Gas Flux (CO2, CH4, N2O) Social Cost Product Underscores Limited Carbon Proxies

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