Forest carbon sinks can play an important role in mitigating climate change, but currently only a few policies exist globally where economic incentives are created for forest owners to maintain and strengthen sinks. This article aims to facilitate the design and implementation of governmental payment schemes for forest carbon uptake services by presenting a multidisciplinary analysis of the many challenges involved in such schemes and by proposing potential solutions. We assess the consequences, opportunities, and risks of carbon payment schemes from economic, ecological, social, and legal points of view based on existing literature. Our analysis is set in the context of the European Union (EU), but many of the central findings have relevance for a broader geographical area. The main economic challenges of implementing carbon payment schemes relate to potential leakage, the question of additionality, and uncertain forest-owner behavior. The most important ecological considerations include effects on soil carbon dynamics and biodiversity as well as issues of non-permanence and forest resilience. Our exploration of the social acceptance of carbon payments among the general public, key market actors such as forest owners and forest industry, and other stakeholders suggest that both the process of developing the scheme and its details are significant. Further, our legal analysis indicates that central challenges for carbon payment schemes within the EU rise from the requirement to comply with competition and state aid regulations. Finally, we synthesize our findings and suggest a two-step approach for introducing public carbon payments in an EU member state. Initially, the scheme could be launched via De minimis aid or the new aid scheme (GAFSRA). A low carbon price could be applied to moderate market effects, and the payments could be limited to additional carbon storage only. Peatlands, where tradeoffs exist between tree biomass carbon and soil carbon, should initially be excluded from the standard payment scheme, and regulated with command-and-control instruments and measure-based payments instead. In the future, an improved knowledge base and institutional changes may enable schemes that encompass all ecosystem carbon pools on all relevant soil types and create optimal incentives for both forest management and land-use choices by pricing all land-based sinks and emissions. Such schemes could utilize, e.g., cap-and-trade instruments and be complemented by import tariffs to control carbon leakage.

中文翻译：

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森林碳支付：欧盟成员国促进碳储存政策选择的多学科审查


森林碳汇可以在缓解气候变化方面发挥重要作用，但目前全球只有少数政策为森林所有者制定经济激励措施来维护和加强碳汇。本文旨在通过对森林碳吸收服务所涉及的许多挑战进行多学科分析并提出可能的解决方案，促进政府森林碳吸收服务付费计划的设计和实施。我们根据现有文献从经济、生态、社会和法律的角度评估碳支付计划的后果、机会和风险。我们的分析是在欧盟 （EU） 的背景下进行的，但许多主要发现与更广泛的地理区域相关。实施碳付费计划的主要经济挑战与潜在的泄漏、额外性问题和不确定的森林所有者行为有关。最重要的生态考虑因素包括对土壤碳动态和生物多样性的影响，以及非永久性和森林恢复力问题。我们对公众、主要市场参与者（如森林所有者和林业）以及其他利益相关者对碳支付的社会接受度的探索表明，该计划的制定过程及其细节都很重要。此外，我们的法律分析表明，欧盟内部碳支付计划的主要挑战来自于遵守竞争和国家援助法规的要求。最后，我们综合了我们的发现，并提出了一种在欧盟成员国引入公共碳付费的两步法。最初，该计划可以通过最低援助或新援助计划 （GAFSRA） 启动。 低碳价格可以应用于温和的市场效应，并且付款可以仅限于额外的碳储存。泥炭地在树木生物量碳和土壤碳之间存在权衡，最初应该被排除在标准支付计划之外，而是通过命令和控制工具和基于测量的支付来监管。未来，改进的知识库和制度变革可能会使涵盖所有相关土壤类型上所有生态系统碳库的计划成为可能，并通过对所有基于陆地的汇和排放进行定价，为森林管理和土地利用选择创造最佳激励措施。此类计划可以利用限额与交易工具等，并辅以进口关税来控制碳泄漏。