Reporter:Some places believe that if the forest resources are good, the carbon sink must be more, and it will be very valuable, is this true? Which carbon sinks can be traded? How to trade?
Zhu Jianhua, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Forestry and Grassland Carbon Sequestration Research Institute:First of all, good forest resources usually refer to high forest coverage and large forest stock, but it cannot be simply assumed that such forests must have a lot of carbon sinks. When we talk about forest carbon sequestration, we generally refer to how much carbon dioxide is absorbed and sequestered by forests in a year. Therefore, carbon sink is not a stock, but an increase. For example, the balance of a bank account is a stock, and the change in the balance compared to the previous year is an increase, and a large account balance does not mean that there will be a lot of increase. If the forest resources in a place are good, it means that the forest has a lot of carbon stocks, but is there an increase in it? And how much is lost? What is the net increase? This is not necessarily related to the size of the stock, and it needs to be judged comprehensively by combining many factors.
Second, not all carbon sinks can be traded and sold for money. The carbon sink that can be traded is only a small part of all carbon sinks, and it must meet the rules and requirements of carbon trading. The basic principle is that only through the adoption of human measures, such as afforestation, grassland management, etc., and additional efforts, such as overcoming obstacles such as unfavorable ecological environments, technical or financial shortages, can only be traded compared to the newly added carbon sinks before the measures, and can be traded. Carbon sinks that are not produced by human effort and are formed purely in a natural state cannot be traded. However, the benefits of this kind of carbon sink for the environment still exist objectively, and we can call it a public welfare carbon sink.
If you want to trade carbon sinks, you need to develop carbon sink projects. How to develop a carbon sink project needs to follow the scope and applicable conditions stipulated in the carbon sink project methodology, calculate how much carbon sink is in the effective time period, and then go through strict verification and verification by relevant agencies to confirm that the carbon sink generated by the project is true and reliable, and has uniqueness and additionality, and can only be traded after being issued by the designated agency. Among them, uniqueness is only allowed to be traded in one carbon market, and additionality emphasizes the need to increase carbon sinks through human efforts.
For more information on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, please pay attention to: Linhuan Carbon.
Forestry carbon sinks