The economical potential of the carbon offset opportunity offered with the afforestation of boreal open woodlands Boris Dufour, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, [email protected] (Presenter) Jean-Francois Boucher, Université du Quebec a Chicoutimi, [email protected] Olivier Bahn, École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal, [email protected] Pascal Tremblay, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, [email protected] Jean-Denis Grenier, Génivar, [email protected] Claude Villeneuve, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, [email protected] Daniel Lord, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, [email protected] The afforestation of boreal open woodlands (OWs) is presently regarded as an efficient carbon offset opportunity. Quebec manageable boreal forest includes 1.6 M ha of stable and unproductive open woodlands (< 25% crown cover). Afforesting 400 000 ha could offset up to 8% of Québec’s industrial process emisssions after 45 years, but… could it be profitable ? Incomes •Carbon credits •Wood products Expenses •Field operational costs •Monitoring costs •Road construction Woodstock spatial optimization Parameters: •Spatial distribution of OWs and roads •Land productivity •Planted species •Forest fires •Wildlife management plans •Backup plantations extent (risk of reversion) •Forest carbon allometry (CBM-CFS3) •Anticipated carbon value (TIMES Canada) Optimized NPV (Net Present Value) Main hypothesis tested : Optimized silvicultural solutions of boreal open woodland afforestation can produce feasible and profitable offset opportunities on mid- to long term horizons (20-50 years), with respect to plausible carbon price scenarios and discount rates. From: Boucher et al. (2012) Process Safety and Environmental Protection 90 (6) , pp. 459–466 Partners