FutureMetrics on Sept. 9 published a new white paper revisiting the flawed assumption that there is a carbon debt after wood is harvested and explaining why some academics continue to perpetuate the carbon debt fallacy.
The paper, authored by FutureMetrics Founder and President William Strauss, references the &ldquo;infamous Manomet study&rdquo; on carbon debt that &ldquo;had several critical errors that were addressed in a series of four FutureMetrics white papers in 2011.&rdquo; Since then, other FutureMetrics papers, and numerous other publications have demonstrated &ldquo;that there is no carbon debt if fundamental sustainability criteria form the basis for the management of the forest landscape,&rdquo; Strauss wrote. &ldquo;Yet to this day, and sometimes by academics with PhD&rsquo;s after their names, the carbon debt fallacy is perpetuated.&rdquo;
According to Strauss, the core of the carbon debt story is a failure to grasp the dynamic nature of the growing working forests that are managed to produce the raw materials needed for the production of a wide variety of commodity items, such as building materials, paper, tissue, packaging and biochemicals.
&ldquo;Carbon debt proponents essentially believe that a single tree represents the forest at large,&rdquo; Strauss explains. &ldquo;That single tree&rsquo;s sequestered carbon is removed when it dies and rots or, in managed working forest, is harvested. It then takes decades for a new tree to replace that one. In the meantime, there is a carbon debt.
&ldquo;Carbon debt proponents believe that if part of the tree is used to produce heat and/or power, that the carbon dioxide released in combustion has to wait for the new tree to grow to cancel the debt,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;This very narrow and non-dynamic view of forests does not allow the carbon debt proponents to acknowledge the fact that in aggregate, the forest&rsquo;s total stock of sequestered carbon is not depleted as long as the growth rate of the forest is greater than or equal to the drain rate.&rdquo;
The paper stresses that with properly managed forests, there is no carbon debt. Furthermore, biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) is carbon negative.
A full copy of the white paper can be downloaded from the FutureMetrics <a href="https://www.futuremetrics.info/" target="_blank">website</a>.&nbsp;
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FutureMetrics on Sept. 9 published a new white paper revisiting the flawed assumption that there is a carbon debt after wood is harvested and explaining why some academics continue to perpetuate the carbon debt fallacy.



FutureMetrics paper addresses the biomass carbon debt fallacy

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