Avoided Land Degradation and Enhanced Soil Carbon Storage: Is There a Role for Carbon Markets? - Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits - page 367

Avoided soil
degradation

Enhanced
soil C
storage

Stage

Fig. 31.4. Schematic dynamics of above- and belowground C storage in relation to a forest or tree cover
transition curve; the translation of 'stage' to 'time' can vary with the systems studied.

C emission reduction proponents that the
emission reduction claimed relative to a
baseline or counterfactual is truly additional
and would not have happened without their
intervention. If the proposed activities are
economically feasible, additionality argu-
ments have to involve investment or regula-
tory bottlenecks that their project will
overcome but that otherwise prevent action.
Proof of additionality is simpler for activities
that are not economically feasible without
intervention - but that raises questions on
attractiveness and permanence. The obser-
vation of 'spontaneous' soil C recovery dis-
cussed above is both good and bad news
from a C market perspective: it suggests that
restoration is possible, but also that it may
happen without specific targeting, as part
of ecological intensification of land-use
practices.
However, additionality in terms of
total anthropogenic GHG emissions needs
to involve the demand side as well. Off-
set markets that exchange 'emission
rights' in the form of 'carbon credits' do
not lead to net global emission reduction,
unless they are directly associated with
commitments to deeper overall cuts com-
pared to business-as-usual practice. Evi-
dence for this type of additionality in
global climate negotiations is weak. Al-
though there have been, and still are, ex-
periments in 'terrestrial carbon projects'
that target offset finance, it is unlikely, at
the current state of negotiations, to con-
tribute substantively to global climate

change mitigation. Where 'new finance'
is used, however, net positive effects are
feasible.

Q2: Are Market-based Solutions
Feasible? What Can We Learn From
The Pilots?

Certified emission reduction units
as marketable commodities

The term 'carbon market' as commonly
used is, in fact, a market for Certified Emis-
sion Reduction Units, where each word
has a specific meaning; certified (by a legit-
imate, transparent and credible institution
that can be trusted in its quality control);
emission (of all major GHGs, specifically
acknowledging the different dynamics of
CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O in their interactions
with soil fertility and soil management,
and the different accounting methods that
apply to the different gases); reduction
(relative to a prior agreed baseline of 'emis-
sion rights'); unit (the different gases can
be combined on a CO 2 equivalent basis, but
can refer to a unit of space and time and/or
a unit of product that enters the value
chains for food, fibre or bioenergy). It
should be noted that the abbreviation CER
is used in the context of the Clean Develop-
ment Mechanism of the Kyoto protocol and
synonyms exist for other formal and volun-
tary frameworks.