Views on harvested wood products estimation, reporting and accounting

1
Views on harvested wood products estimation,
reporting and accounting

• Presentation by Canada
• SBSTA Workshop on Harvested
• Wood Products
• Lillehammer, 30 August, 2004

2
Outline of presentation

1. Introduction
2. Lessons from Canadian experience
3. General perspective of Canada
4. Ideas for SBSTA guidance to IPCC (2006
   Guidelines)
5. Attachments

3
Introduction

• Canada has applied the 4 existing approaches to
  estimate its harvest-related emissions in LULUCF
  sector
• Harvest emissions are delayed when carbon storage
  in HWP is taken into account
• Year 2000 estimates are presented in Canadas
  May 2004 submission to SBSTA (FCCC/SBSTA/2004/MISC
  .9)

4
Lessons from Canadian ExperienceImportance of
Terminology (1)

• A common understanding of concepts is
  fundamentally important
• Reporting Submission to the FCCC of a national
  inventory of emissions/removals as per
  guidelines
• For reporting, Attribution is important Source,
  timing and cause of emissions/removals are
  clearly identified (usually where and when they
  occur)
• Accounting Applying rules for counting
  emissions /
• removals against an emission limitation
  commitment
• Accounting means Allocation Designation of
  responsibility for emissions/removals

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Lessons from Canadian ExperienceImportance of
Terminology (2)

• Allocation versus attribution
• Allocation differs from attribution when the
  accounting approach changes system boundaries
  such that responsibility is not necessarily based
  on national boundaries
• Accounting of CO2 emissions from HWP may differ
  from simply reporting them within the annual
  national inventory

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Lessons from Canadian ExperienceImportance of
Terminology (3)

• Approach conceptual framework for estimating
  HWP whereby system boundaries are set
• e.g. IPCC Default / Stock-Change / Production /
  Atmospheric Flow / Other?
• Method calculation framework for estimating
  HWP emissions within an approach
• Any method can be used regardless of the approach
  (may depend on data)
• e.g. inflow-outflow method (looking at inputs and
  outputs or flux quantities)
• e.g. stock change or stock data method
  (difference in C inventory of a pool between time
  t1 and t2)

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Inflow-Outflow Method
?C Sum of inflows and outflows (See GPG 2003
equation 3.1.1)
Harvest
C pool
Stock change or Stock data Method
C pool
?C C t2 Ct1 (See GPG 2003 equation 3.1.2)
C pool
C stock at t1
C stock at t2
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Lessons from Canadian ExperienceSystem
Representation is Key

• Key terms need to be carefully defined
• E.g. wood production Does it mean harvested
  volume? roundwood production? Or commodities
  produced?
• Harvest and wood consumption also have to be
  carefully defined
• Comprehensive and consistent system
• Cannot do C stock change accounting for HWP
  without linkage to the managed forest (other
  pools), unless harvest is zero
• Forest pools, products pools and landfill pools
  cannot be disconnected
• Amount of C entering to the HWP calculations
  should equal amount of C removed from the forest

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Lessons from Canadian ExperienceOther Issues

• Complexity is not a major issue
• HWP estimation is no more complex (especially for
  lower tiers) than other GHG inventory sources
• Good Practice Guidance philosophy lack of
  complete and detailed data is not an obstacle to
  reporting HWP emissions (tiered structure)
• Basic data requirements are the same for all
  approaches
• Although the approaches differ, the basic data
  requirements are fundamentally the same

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General Perspective of Canada

• Focus of UNFCCC is the atmosphere
• Art. 2 stabilize GHG concentrations in the
  atmosphere
• Art. 4 limiting emissions of GHG and
  protecting and enhancing, as appropriate, GHG
  reservoirs and sinks
• Stock changes versus emissions and removals
• 1996 GL and GPG 2003 both assume that changes in
  stocks are a valid approach to estimating
  emissions from HWP
• Stock change approaches allocate emissions to a
  place and time that are different from what the
  atmosphere sees
• Carbon stock changes in the forest or the HWP (or
  SWDS) pool are not necessarily an emission or
  removal
• In what circumstances are stock changes an
  unbiased representation of emissions or removals?

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Adapted from Pingoud et al. (2004)
Exchange with atmosphere Biomass C Flow
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General Perspective of CanadaThe
Forward-Looking Process

• It is premature to rule out any approach at this
  time.
• Discussions should make distinction between
  accounting and reporting.
• Discussion on HWP accounting approach is
  fundamentally linked to the future treatment of
  LULUCF.
• SBSTA could develop a set of criteria against
  which approaches may be assessed.
• IPCC will work on methods and guidance for
  reporting HWP information.

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Ideas for SBSTA Guidance to IPCC (1)

• SBSTA should provide timely, practical and
  realistic guidance to IPCC for IPCC 2006
  Guidelines
• Any SBSTA guidance to IPCC must be provided at
  SBSTA 21
• 2006 Guidelines should facilitate annual
  reporting of comprehensive, transparent and
  comparable information to support the
  implementation of any future HWP accounting
  approach agreed by COP
• IPCC 2006 Guidelines should not prejudge the
  outcome of the UNFCCC negotiations on accounting
  approach.

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Ideas for SBSTA Guidance to IPCC (2)

• Technical guidance should be
• Approach or accounting neutral
• Reported quantities could be later combined
  depending on the approach agreed to
• Focused on HWP quantities relevant to HWP
  estimating and accounting
• Focused on
• categorization / definitions of products
• methods (tiered structure)

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• Attachments

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More Ideas for SBSTA Guidance to IPCC (1)

• Categorization/definition of products
• Guidance on identification, definition and
  detailed description of quantities relevant to
  HWP estimation
• Notably harvest, imports, exports, and decay
  formulas for carbon
• in HWP and SWDS
• Guidance on distinctions between main product
  categories, primary vs. secondary commodities
• Guidance on use of existing data sources

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More Ideas for SBSTA Guidance to IPCC (2)

• Methodological tiered structure
• Increasingly refined HWP-related quantities
• For Tiers 2 and 3
• Include distinctions such as trade of roundwood,
  market pulp, secondary commodities, emissions
  from decay of domestically produced and traded
  products, and proportion of non-wood fibres
  entering commodities
• For Tier 3
• Guidance on quantities relevant to estimating
  fraction of HWP-C recycled or stored for long
  periods in solid waste disposal sites