dr paul dargusch director, carbonlab faculty of science, university of queensland, australia the...
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Dr Paul DarguschDirector, CarbonLab Faculty of Science, University of Queensland, Australia
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasian value chain perspective
Photo: Mark Hopgood
www.carbonlab.net
About Us
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
My teaching and research groups at the University of Queensland is called the Carbon Lab www.carbonlab.net
Our group has a specific interest in how we can facilitate the development of carbon offset projects that support sustainable management of forest and marine ecosystems. Our work borrows from the fields of political economy, political ecology, ecological economics, value chain analysis and systems thinking.
Our work has been funded through grants (totalling more than US$6 million 2012-2015) from the Australian Research Council, the World Bank and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.
www.carbonlab.net
Selected Publications
Dargusch, P. and Smith, C. (2012). Mainstreaming systems science. Science. (337) : 645-646.
Dargusch, P. and Thomas, S. (2012). A critical role for carbon offsets. Nature Climate Change. 2 (7): 470.
Law, E., Thomas, S., Meijaard, E. Dargusch, P., and Wilson, K. (2012). A modular framework for managing complexity in international forest carbon policy. Nature Climate Change. 2: 155-160.
Thomas, S., Dargusch, P. and Griffiths, A. (2011). The drivers and outcomes of CDM project development in China. Environmental Policy and Governance. 21 (4): 223-239.
Dargusch, P., Maraseni, T. And Schmidt, P. (2010). A review of research on forest-related environmental markets (including certification schemes, bioenergy, carbon markets and other ecosystem services). CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 5 (22): 1-12.
Thomas, S., Dargusch, P., Harrison, S. and Herbohn, J. (2010). Why are there so few afforestation-based CDM projects? Land Use Policy. 27 (3); 880-887.
McAlpine, C., Laurance, W., Ryan, J., Seabrook, L., Syktus, J., Etter, A., Fearnside, P., Dargusch, P., Pielke, P. and Thomas, S. (2010). More than CO2: A broader picture for managing climate change and variability to avoid ecosystem collapse. Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability. 2: 1-13.
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Emissions Trading Simulation
www.carbonlab.net
Why the interest in blue carbon?
Why would businesses be interested in paying for the protection and enhancement of carbon stocks in marine ecosystems?
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
www.carbonlab.net
Carbon Markets and Carbon Offsets
1 tonne of CO2e sequestered or avoided = 1 carbon offset.(1 tonne of C is approximately 3.67tCO2e)
Carbon Offset Credit
Buyer for compliance (national)/
Voluntary purpose (CSR)
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
Developing Countries
Industrialised Countries
$
Accepted Standard
A US$140 billion/yr carbon market has emerged
Switch fuels to biodiesel
Convert waste to bio-energy
Retrofit lighting
Switch to hybrid cars
Build wind turbine
Build PV unit
Permit price Offset price
The carbon market is very interested in offsets because they offer a lower cost compliance option.
Blue Carbon in Mangroves
planted mangroves(post 1990; 2m tall; 20% canopy cover; 0.2ha)
natural mangroves(avoided degradation; everything else)
CDM A/R, JI A/RVCS A/R, CFI
REDD G2G, VCS REDD, CFI
(Donato et al., 2011)
There is a lot of interest in blue carbon because the carbon stocks of some marine ecosystems, like mangroves are particularly large, and this means that offsets might be able to be produced at low cost.
But only < 1% of the 8000+ carbon offset projects registered or under review globally are ‘green or blue carbon’ projects
www.carbonlab.net
Blue Carbon & Carbon Markets‘Good’ offset projects are commercially challenging- they are less attractive investments than other offset types
- transaction costs are high
- yields are delayed (as trees grow)
- land tenure can be unclear
- land availability can be constrained (socially, food security)
- methodologies can be complex
- managing ecosystems involves long timeframes
- getting plants to grow can be technically difficult
- compensating people for foregone activities is complicated
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
www.carbonlab.net
How can we fix this?
How can we make ‘good’ forms of carbon offsetting,
such as Blue Carbon, a more appealing development
proposition?
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
Example: Integrative Landscape Carbon (revealing the ‘value’ of carbon)
Key1 terrestrial reforestation sequestration 5 wind power electricity generation2 avoided emissions using conservation farming 6 solar thermal electricity generation3 seagrass sequestration 7 indigenous community reforestation project4 mangrove reforestation sequestration 8 landfill methane flaring
Note: Outcomes from different offset projects can be integrated to achieve desired mitigation, cost and sustainability objectives. The cost of offsets to the proponent is the weighted average cost of offsets across all offset activities. The mix of projects can be designed to reduce costs of abatement. The proponent’s social license to operate can be supported by promoting and emphasising the social and ecological benefits of more charismatic offset activities.
www.carbonlab.net
Current Projects•Australian Research Council
- ILC in Australian farming systems •ACIAR Catchment Rehabilitation
- investigating ILC in Philippines catchments•World Bank GEF CCRES
- ‘Capturing Coral Reef Ecosystem Services’
- Philippines, Indonesia and Pacific (to be specified)
- 3 Components; Component 2 ‘Designing Enterprises’
- Value chain, participatory and systems based approach
- Attempting to consider multiple spatial and scalesThe political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective
www.carbonlab.net
Merci !Thank you to the Australian Academy of Sciences for sponsoring this visit.
Contact Details:
Dr Paul DarguschDirector, CarbonLabUniversity of QueenslandAustralia
+61 448 606 [email protected]
www.carbonlab.net
The political economy of blue carbonAn Australasia value chain perspective