Carbon storage with a history: improved forest management in Switzerland
A close relationship with nature has not always been a given in Switzerland. For centuries, forests were cut down to produce firewood and timber or to create farmland. It was not until the mid-19th century that a forest law was introduced and forests were generously reforested. Today, forests cover around 31% of Switzerland's land and fulfil a variety of functions - as source of raw materials, as recreational area and as habitat. One thing in particular makes them indispensable: forests are one of the world's most important carbon storages.
In order to preserve this carbon reservoir and increase its capacity, the project implements improved forest management practices across specific forest areas in Switzerland.
By reducing logging to below legal requirements, the forest's biomass stock will be increased. This means that more carbon remains in the forest each year. The earnings from the project are directly reinvested in forest protection measures - including forest maintenance, wildlife protection, road maintenance, repair of forest damage and new tree plantings.
The project contributes to the the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals
Improved forest management for climate action and biodiversity
Forests are true superheroes: they prevent desertification, purify water and air, store carbon, and are an important habitat to roughly 50 percent of all animal and plant species. Forests also play a key role in the fight against the climate crisis. Around 15 percent of global CO2 emissions result from deforestation, making forest protection one of the most cost-effective solutions to mitigate climate change.
Improved Forest Management (IFM) aims to increase the forest's capacity to store carbon, conserve the forest and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation.
Depending on the project, different IFM measures are implemented:
Extended rotation: Increasing the time between harvest cycles allows trees to grow larger, accumulate more biomass, and store more carbon.
Reduced-impact logging: Selective removal of individual trees preserves the forest structure, and promotes natural regeneration.
Build-up of timber stock: Less wood is harvested than naturally grows back, resulting in a continuous increase of forest biomass.
Forest reserve: In natural forest reserves, all logging activities are entirely prohibited within a designated area. This significantly increases biomass and promotes high biodiversity.
The project aims to contribute to these United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Four criteria for projects to meet quality thresholds
The life cycle of a climate project
A climate project has a set life cycle consisting of various phases, from the feasibility assessment to the retirement of Verified Emission Reductions (VERs).
The project developer reviews the general feasibility of the project, the project design, and the financing. Then, the Project Design Document (PDD) is prepared, which contains all the basic information about the project, such as the objective, location, timeline, and duration.
In this phase, independent auditors examine the PDD and the information it contains. This phase often also involves field visits with on-side interviews and analyses. Auditors are accredited, impartial assessors who have to be approved by the relevant standard as a validation and verification body (VVB). TÜV Nord/Süd, S&A Carbon LLC., and SCS Global Services are examples of VVBs."
Once validated, the project can be registered with a standard such as the Verified Carbon Standard or the Gold Standard. All high-quality climate projects are based on international standards. They provide the framework for project design, construction, carbon accounting, and monitoring. Recognised standards make the climate project system and the projects themselves resilient, traceable, and credible.
After the climate project has been registered, the monitoring begins. Here, the project developers monitor and document the data of the project activities and progress. The duration of the monitoring phase varies from project to project: it can cover two years, but documentation over five or seven years is also possible.
At the end of each monitoring phase, a VVB checks and assesses whether the values and project activities stated in the monitoring report are correct. As with validation, visits to the project site are often part of the verification process.
Once verified, the emission reductions that were confirmed in the verification phase can be issued as VERs. The steps of monitoring, verification, and issuance of VERs are repeated regularly and are therefore considered as a cycle.
Once a VER has been used, it must be retired. This process is also reflected in the registry. If the financing of a climate project is done through ClimatePartner, the VERs are bundled in a system certified by TÜV Austria and then retired on a regular basis. This ensures that each VER can no longer be sold and is only used once, preventing double counting.
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