Forest carbon sequestration, pathogens and the costs of the EU's 2050 climate targets
2018 (English)In: Forests, E-ISSN 1999-4907, Vol. 9, no 9, article id 542
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Carbon sequestration is suggested as a low-cost option for climate change mitigation, the functioning of which can be threatened by pathogen infestation. This study calculates the effects of infectious pathogens on the cost of achieving the EU's 2050 climate targets by combining the so-called production function method with the replacement cost method. Pathogens are then assumed to affect carbon sink enhancement through the impact on productivity of forest land, and carbon sequestration is valued as the replacement for costly reductions in emissions from fossil fuels for reaching the EU's 2050 climate targets. To this end, we have constructed a numerical dynamic optimization model with a logistic forest growth function, a simple allometr+ic representation of the spread of pathogens in forests, and reductions in emissions from fossil fuels. The results show that the annual value of forest carbon sequestration ranges between approximately 6.4 and 14.9 billion Euros, depending on the impact and dispersal of pathogens. Relatively large values are obtained for countries with large emissions from fossil fuels, e.g., Germany, France, Spain and Italy, which also face costs of pathogen together with countries with large forest area, such as Romania. © 2018 by the authors.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2018. Vol. 9, no 9, article id 542
Keywords [en]
Climate policy, Cost-effectiveness, EU climate targets, Forest pathogen, Value of forest carbon sink, Carbon, Climate change, Cost effectiveness, Fossil fuels, Pathogens, Climate change mitigation, Climate targets, Forest carbon sequestration, Forest carbon sinks, Forest pathogens, Infectious pathogens, Replacement cost methods, Forestry
National Category
Forest Science Economics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-36594DOI: 10.3390/f9090542ISI: 000448398100038Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85052932711OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-36594DiVA, id: diva2:1256951
Projects
Responses of European forests and society to invasive pathogens
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 2013-018802018-10-182018-10-182024-07-04Bibliographically approved