Will forest offsets be used in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme?

Yesterday, 4 December 2008, the EU held a press conference, during which Reuters asked the question: “Will forest offsets be used within EU ETS? And what is EU’s view on avoided deforestation?” Here are the responses from Brice Lalonde from the French delegation and Jurgen Lefevre from the European Commission.

Brice Lalonde, French delegation:

The EU is discussing on this. The proposal put on the table by the European Commission is that we start by using public money to finance avoided deforestation for the first gigaton, after which we use markets – whether this is the same markets as for other emissions is up for discussion. We all agree here that avoided deforestation is going to be part of the agreement and we think we could even be getting close to a decision. All parties agree on that central idea that forests will be in an agreement. How should we finance that? That is still under discussion.

Jurgen Lefevre, European Commission:

That is under discussion at today’s EU Environment Council. We proposed a public funding mechanism for the first part of the issue, but also building capacity and the basis for using the carbon market to help. There is a general recognition that we will need massive funding, and when we seek to link that to the carbon market we do so in a way that is compatible with its ambition and design. These are issues we are exploring at EU Environment Council and here in Poznan.