Seed Grant: Economics of Carbon Sequestration

Summary

This seed project focused on three key questions:

1. What is the range of potential costs of carbon sequestration in forests?
2. How effective might policies be to implement carbon sequestration in Latin America?
3. How does climate change affect carbon sequestration in forests?

Project Status

This seed grant has accomplished the following as of April, 2009:

• Three graduate students were hired — Yoon Hyun Kim, Montserrat Acosta, and Sujith Surendaren-Nair.
• Began simulations to calculate the range of potential costs of carbon sequestration.
• Yoon and Sohngen are working on specific anlayses of the carbon sequestration potential with a computer model for the US EPA. These analysis form the basis of US EPA estimates of the costs of international land based carbon credits. We provided initial results for the US EPA in March, 2009, and will update these results throughout 2009 and 2010 as needed to assess alternative options considered by Congress during discussion of climate change legislation.

Contact

Brent Sohngen
Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

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