Major polluters in Quebec can now plant trees to offset emissions on the carbon market. The new regulation, considered “very robust” from most angles, raises eyebrows in one respect, however: it allows carbon credits to be created with trees that have been growing for more than 30 years.
These “hasty projects” raise serious questions about the additional benefits they provide for the climate. The carbon sequestered in these plantations does reduce warming, but does not equate to a current and additional reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
“A promoter who promotes a plantation he created in 1990, he died laughing,” illustrates Jean-François Boucher, a professor at the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi who specializes in forest carbon sequestration. In his view, long-term retroactive credits should not have been authorized by the regulation.
People in Quebec’s climate and forest sectors have been waiting for years for a protocol allowing the creation of forest offset credits. Since the launch of the Quebec-California carbon market in 2014, major emitters here had to turn to the California regime to buy forest credits.
To comply with an emissions cap that decreases from year to year, large companies subject to the carbon market can trade emission units allocated by the government, or, for a maximum of 8% of their annual emissions , buy offset credits from activities that are not subject to the market, such as afforestation.
When we want to make new afforestation, we will have to register them immediately, there will be costs
The new Quebec regulation, announced on December 13, concerns forest carbon sequestration on private land. To generate carbon credits, trees must be planted on non-forest land, such as agricultural wasteland or gravel pits, or “restock” forests to ensure their full afforestation. Reforestation carried out following a cut is not admissible.
This regulation relies on a unique approach in the world. Rather than simply counting the tons of carbon sequestered by trees, the protocol assesses their effect on warming, year after year. A fire or disease decimating a plantation does not affect the credits already issued.
This gives promoters much more flexibility: they can harvest timber from their plantation, as long as they take this into account the next time they claim their credits. The classic approach is that developers must ensure that trees stand for 100 years.
Reward the efforts of promoters
At the same time, the new regulation allows the registration of “early projects” during the five years following the entry into force of the protocol. These projects may include forest carbon sequestration carried out as early as 1990. Their effect on the climate from 2007 may be the subject of offset credits.
“It seems to me difficult to justify the granting of credits for actions that have been taken without the incentive of the carbon market, it goes against the grain of the logic of the system”, points out Mark Purdon, holder of the Chair on decarbonization of UQAM and carbon market specialist.
At the federal level, the regulation on offset credits, adopted last year, requires that projects not have been started before 2017. A retroactivity buffer of five years is thus authorized after the entry into force of the regulation. This “fails to ensure the additionality” of the credits, lamented the organization Nature Canada in 2021.
Additionality, a cardinal principle of offset credits, consists of ensuring that the carbon removals would not have been achieved in the absence of the project or regulation. The real, quantifiable, unique, verifiable and permanent nature of carbon credits is also considered essential.
A promoter who claims a plantation he made in 1990, he died laughing
In response to questions from To have to, the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks of Quebec explains in an email its decision to make early projects eligible: “The main objective of this measure is to recognize promoters who were pioneers and who carried out good deeds before the implementation of government measures. A second objective pursued by this measure aims to encourage the promoters of this type of project to maintain their plantation in place beyond the initial forecasts. »
As for the dates chosen, the ministry explains that 1990 is an “internationally recognized reference year” in terms of the fight against climate change. The year 2007 corresponds to the moment when the original partners of the Western Climate Initiative, of which Quebec is now a part, decided to launch a regional carbon market.
The Federation of Quebec Forest Producers (FPFQ), which represents more than 130,000 private landowners, has been waiting for the regulation on offset credits for years. For the moment, the FPFQ is unable to quantify the existing plantations, generally carried out with a view to future cutting, which could qualify as hasty projects.
One thing is certain, the hasty projects will be able to help the owners who want to embark on sequestration, supports Marc-André Rhéaume, the deputy director general of the FPFQ. “When we want to make new afforestation, we will have to register them immediately, there will be costs. If we have already started to turn the wheel with hasty projects, we will start on better bases. »
Évelyne Thiffault, a Université Laval professor specializing in forest carbon, shares this point of view on hasty projects. “It’s not a bad idea, she says, and I think it’s a way to practice. The afforestation efforts that have been made in the last decades, we reward them with that. »
Note that according to the regulations, nothing would prevent a promoter who planted trees in 1990 from claiming carbon credits for the period from 2007 to 2022, selling them to the highest bidder, then completely harvesting the wood on the plot.