Global Climate Change and The NY Forest Owner: Part III: The Future of Managed Forests in Climate Prograus and Markets

摘要

In the previous article we examined the forest carbon offset project in detail, and concluded with an example. In this article, we move forward in time to examine future possibilities for the role of NY forests and forest owners in mitigating climatechange. Before we explore the future for forests in carbon programs we will review some concepts from the previous two articles. Carbon markets in the US today are voluntary and consist of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and direct sale transactions.Currently the CCX is the most mature opportunity for managed forests where harvesting takes place. The CCX is a commodity exchange, and the commodity being traded is called a "Carbon Financial Instrument" or CFI. A CFI is 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, or MtCO2e. You may recall from the first article in this series that members of the CCX commit to lowering their emissions below a target level by either investing in strategies to lower point emissions or by purchasing CFIs to offset their emissions on the exchange. Similar to other commodity exchanges (like the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE), CFI prices on the CCX fluctuate depend on market conditions. As you can see from the chart below, the price of one MtCO2e has fluctuated from a low in May 2004 of 0.74 dollar to a high in May and June 2006 of 4.60 dollar. That's quite a range, and has a very large effect on the financial viability of a forest carbon offset project.