Landscapes and carbon assessment
Fig. 1: Distribution of carbon for different land uses in the South West region, identified by recent research. Similar assessments have been produced at scale of individual landscapes, e.g. for the New Forest (see below).
Context
The UK has developed a Climate Change Bill, which has the ultimate objective of reducing the carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. This emphasizes the need to move towards a low carbon economy. At the same time, a global market in carbon is developing, which is expected to increase in size to about $68.2bn by 2010, with the voluntary sector rising to $4bn in the same period.
The carbon economy offers a range of commercial opportunities, including carbon sequestration (i.e. the process of increasing the carbon content of a carbon pool other than the atmosphere) and funds from the government and the voluntary carbon sector are increasingly becoming available to support it. In England, for example, the carbon sequestration associated with agricultural land management changes could potentially contribute to mitigate 10,400,000 tonnes C yr-1 (equivalent to about 6.6% of 1990 UK CO2 carbon emissions).
Approach
We are currently researching the carbon stocks and potential carbon sequestration of different types of land cover and land use in rural England. Results have been used to develop a map-based carbon assessment tool that enables the potential impact of land use decisions on carbon sequestration to be explored, enabling landowners to estimate the carbon offset potential of their land.
Fig. 2: Distribution of carbon in vegetation and topsoil in the New Forest.
Consultancy
We can offer carbon consultancy services to landowners/land managers interested in producing carbon budgets for their land. We can also provide consultancy to carbon brokers that offer offset initiatives to their clients. Examples of clients with whom we have worked previously include co2balance.com
and Carbon Negative Worldwide.
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