Forest biomass monitoring: carbon sink assessment for the carbon credit industry

Use Case 2b will explore Forest biomass monitoring: carbon sink assessment for the carbon credit industry

Background

Forests are key in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon. Above Ground Biomass (AGB) indicates the carbon storage capacity of forest ecosystems, making it a crucial climate variable according to the Global Climate Observing System due to its major role in the global carbon cycle. The case study focuses on ‘carbon projects’ as natural climate solutions, which aim to unlock the carbon reduction potential of agriculture, forestry, and other land use projects. The leading project type is Reduce Emissions Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) in voluntary carbon markets, worth almost 400 million REDD+ credits by 2022. REDD+ projects aim to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and are typically private initiatives protecting vulnerable forest areas.

Gaps

Forests hold 80% of above-ground terrestrial carbon and 40% of below-ground terrestrial carbon on Earth. Deforestation and forest degradation lead to loss of carbon stock. To sustainably manage forests at sub-regional to national scales and support policy-relevant activities, such as REDD+ and Paris Agreement, accurate estimates of the temporal and spatial variation of AGB are crucial. High Resolution (HR) estimates of AGB over large areas are necessary to fulfil the REDD+ Measurement, Reporting, and Verification requirements, mandatory for developing countries and to improve third-party carbon offset quality assessments.

Objectives

Create a new tool that models above-ground biomass to assess forest carbon stock. The tool will be designed to meet the needs of the carbon credits industry and provide detailed information at both large and local scales. The outputs will be linked to carbon projects, aiming at assigning to them independent ‘carbon scores’. Scale: This case study will model AGB at HR for the years 2017-2022. Geographically, it will focus on the Amazon Rainforest whose basin encompasses 7m km2.

Technical Partners

The Use Case will be developed by Global Eye. Co-design users: Existing IFIs customers of GE, interested in exploring new tools to assess carbon-based assets. They will be able to provide information on the pricing of carbon and carbon credits. Links to ThinkingEarth pillars: i) Copernicus foundation models: S1&S2 fused products, ii) domain adaptation application in different cities in South America.