Energy: Carbon Sequestration

House of Lords written question – answered at on 11 July 2013.

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Photo of Lord Greaves Lord Greaves Liberal Democrat

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they have taken to ensure that the reduction in carbon sequestration, as well as the carbon released, from the utilisation of bio energy are accounted for in the United Kingdom’s carbon budgets.

Photo of Baroness Verma Baroness Verma The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change

The UK compiles an annual inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC). The inventory includes the carbon losses and sequestration associated with land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). The inventory is published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-greenhouse-gas-inventory.

With regard to bio-energy, where wood from UK or EU forests is consumed as a source of fuel it is accounted for in the LULUCF sector. The net change in carbon stock due to the use of wood as fuel is thus accounted for in the UK's emissions total. Also any fossil fuel emissions arising from transport of biomass or harvesting activity will be accounted for in the relevant sectors.

Under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, accounting for Forest Management is mandatory. The EU also requires Member States to account for emissions due to Forest Management activities on a mandatory basis thereby ensuring implementation of the UNFCCC accounting rules within the EU. Wood imported from outside the EU for fuel, is not accounted in EU emissions inventories as responsibility for reporting those rests with the producing country.

The UK will take a decision in due course on accounting for voluntary activities under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and EU LULUCF accounting—including cropland management and grazing-land management which is relevant to bio-energy.

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