Highlights from President Obamas United States Climate Action Report 2014
“The costs of global warming inaction are “beyond anything that anyone with conscience or common sense should be willing to contemplate,”–Senator John Kerry
From an article in Inside Climate News
“Net CO2 sequestration from land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) increased by 110.5 Tg CO2e (14 percent) from 1990 through 2011. This increase was primarily due to growth in the rate of net carbon accumulation in forest carbon stocks, particularly in above- ground and below-ground tree biomass.” (p. 52)
“Existing U.S. forests are an important net sink for atmospheric carbon. Improved forest management practices, the regeneration of previously cleared forest areas, and timber harvesting and use have resulted in net sequestration of CO2 every year since 1990. In 2011, the land use, land-use change, and forestry sector absorbed a net of 905.0 Tg of CO2. This sequestration represents an offset of 17.1 percent of U.S. fossil fuel emissions (5,277 Tg CO2e) (U.S. EPA/ OAP 2013).” (p. 72)
“There are indications that in the long term, U.S. forest carbon stocks are likely to accumulate at a slower rate, and eventually may decline as a result of forestland conversion and changes in forest growth related to climate change and other disturbances (Box 5-1; Haynes et al. 2007, Alig et al. 2010, Haim et al. 2011). “
“The exact timing of these changes is uncertain, but U.S. forests are unlikely to continue historical trends of sequestering additional carbon stocks in the future under current policy conditions. While these changes may already be starting, major changes in U.S. forest inventory monitoring results are not expected in the next 5 to 10 years, partly due to lags in the time needed to collect and synthesize data for the entire nation.” (p. 144)”
“For the above reasons, Table 5-6 provides two estimates for U.S. LULUCF carbon sequestration pathways to the year 2030. The high sequestration scenario (which reflects lower CO2 emissions to the atmosphere) is an extrapolation based on recent forestland and forest carbon density accumulation rate trends (2000–2010 annual average increases of 556,560 ha [1.4 million ac] and 0.26 percent carbon density, respectively). The low sequestration scenario reflects expectations of slower accumulation of forestland and carbon density. With this scenario, forest area change declines from recent levels (accumulation of 556,560 ha [1.4 million ac] annually) and reaches a steady state of no net change in forest area in next decade. Forest carbon density declines from recent accrual rates (0.28 percent) to the 1991– 2010 average (0.23 percent) by 2030.” (p. 144)