Van Kooten (2023): Determining optimal forest rotation ages and carbon offset credits: Accounting for post-harvest carbon storehouses
G. Cornelis van Kooten IN: Canadian Agricultural Economics, https://doi.org/10.1111/cjag.12333
A major policy concern is whether forests should be left unharvested to avoid carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and store carbon, or harvested to take advantage of potential carbon storage in post-harvest wood product sinks and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by new growth. The issue is addressed in this paper by examining carbon rotation ages that consider commercial timber as well as carbon values. A discrete-time optimal rotation age model is developed that employs data on carbon fluxes stored in both living and dead biomass as opposed to carbon as a function of timber growth.