Object of invention

The invention relates to a system and a method for utilizing a carbon sink formed by soil and/or forest in emissions trading systems.

Background of invention

The European Union (later EU), for instance, has committed to the international targets defined by the United Nations to decrease greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere in order to mitigate climate change. For this purpose, the EU created the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS). Its target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (most typically carbon dioxide i.e. CO2 emissions) of the power industry and the power-intensive manufacturing industry. The aim of the emissions trading system is to direct the industries causing greenhouse gas emissions to use more emission-free production methods. At the moment, the emissions trading system covers the power industry and the power-intensive manufacturing industry. These include fuel furnace plants having the heat power of over 20 MW (not including furnace plants of hazardous waste and municipal waste), oil refineries, burning or sintering of metallic minerals, production and processing plants of iron ore, aluminium works, production and processing plants of other metals having the heat power of over 20 MW, cement mills, lime production, manufacture of glass and ceramics, manufacture of pulp from wood or other fibre materials, paper and cardboard plants, chemicals industry, and air traffic in the EU area. The system consisted of three trading periods this far between the years of 2003- 2020. Currently, the third trading period is ongoing, and it started at the beginning of 2013 and will last to the end of 2020. An extension of the emissions trading system has been planned and it will also be continued very probably after 2020. Additionally, emissions trading systems, e.g. ones operating on a national level and being similar to the EU emissions trading system of their principles and/or parts, have been designed and their implementation has been considered or they have already been implemented outside of the EU. Forests are a large carbon storage. As they grow, trees absorb carbon, part of which ends up in the soil, part of which releases to the atmosphere as trees rot and part is harvested out of the forest. A small part of carbon harvested from the forest remains in wood products for a long time. Besides forest, some other land area can form a growing carbon storage. For example, some plants are known to be effective carbon sequesters, whereby they remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere when growing. The carbon storage of the forest is the amount of carbon absorbed in trees and soil. If the absorption of carbon is greater than its release, the storage grows and the forest is a carbon sink. In the opposite case, the forest becomes a carbon source. The same principle applies to treeless soil areas, e.g. fields. Flence, variation in the extent of a carbon storage formed by e.g. a field depends on its usage. The EU emissions trading system, for instance, does not directly account for emission reductions provided by changes in land-use and operations related to forestry or nuclear power. Flowever, carbon sinks formed by forest management and land-use have an effect on the quantity of emission allowances the industry must obtain in order to be able to achieve the annual reduction targets of greenhouse gas emissions set by the EU for its Member States. This is why it is possible to think that currently the industry, to which emission allowances are sold, can utilize the emission allowances indirectly formed of forests and land-use in a way described above free of charge without considering forest and land owners. An equivalent disadvantage must also be solved in other existing and future emissions trading systems.

Short description of invention

The object of the invention is to provide a system and a method for eliminating the above disadvantage. A particular object of the invention is to introduce a system and a method by means of which land and/or forest owners can find out the growth of the carbon storage on their soil and/or forest, i.e. the volume of the carbon sink, and determine the quantity of emission allowances corresponding to it as well as economically utilize thus formed emission allowances based on emissions trading systems targeting to the reduction of greenhouse gases. The object of the invention is achieved by a system which comprises at least one computer equipped with a memory and a computer program stored in it by means of which the extent of a carbon storage of a soil and/or forest area of specified size and located on a specified site is determinable at time period intervals and by means of which a change in the extent of the carbon storage formed over the time period, i.e. the volume of the carbon sink, is determinable and storable in the memory of said at least one computer as a carbon sink value on a carbon sink account designated as that of the producer or owner of the carbon sink in question. Additionally, the system comprises an identification means and a reader device suitable for reading the identification means and connectable to the computer to identify the owner of the carbon sink account. The identification means is a magnetic tape card, an integrated circuit card, an RFID identifier, an NFC identifier or a card provided with a QR code or some other suitable electrically or optically machine-readable identification means. Furthermore, the computer program comprises software means by means of which the carbon sink value being in the memory of said at least one computer is transferrable onto another carbon sink account in the memory of said at least one computer or some other computer. To be more precise, the system according to the invention is characterized by what is presented in independent claim 1 and the method is characterized by what is presented in independent claim 8. Dependent claims 2-7 describe some advantageous embodiments of the system according to the invention. Dependent claims 9-11 describe some advantageous embodiments of the method according to the invention.

An advantage of the system and method according to the invention is that, by means of it, land and/or forest owners can determine the volume of a carbon sink formed by soil and/or forest owned by them and trade the carbon sink with a state and/or industrial parties contained in an emissions trading system and, thus, be able to utilize the carbon sinks formed by soil and/or forest they own within the greenhouse-gas emissions trading system applied at that time.

Detailed description of some preferable embodiments of invention The system according to the invention is based on software in a computer by which it is possible to manage carbon sinks formed by changes in the carbon storage of the soil and/or forest area in question and transfer them from one carbon sink account owner to a second carbon sink account owner. In this connection, the receiver of the carbon sink (the second carbon sink account owner) and the producer of the carbon sink (the first carbon sink account owner) usually agree on a compensation which the receiver will settle to the producer of the carbon sink. The receiver of the carbon sink is usually an industrial company or an equivalent party wishing to acquire more emission allowances. The producer of the carbon sink again is e.g. a land and/or forest owner. In the system, all parties can have a similar carbon sink account onto which carbon sinks formed in a certain soil and/or forest area over a defined time period will be stored in accordance with who owns the carbon sink value in question.

In an embodiment of a system according to the invention, the system comprises at least one computer equipped with a memory and a computer program stored in its memory which computer program comprises software means for determining the extent of a carbon storage of a soil and/or forest area of specified size and located on a specified site at time period intervals, for determining a change in the extent of the carbon storage formed over the time period, i.e. the volume of the carbon sink, for storing it in the memory of said least one computer as a carbon sink value on a predeterminable carbon sink account, for entering and connecting personal details of the owner of the carbon sink account as well as transferring the carbon sink value from the first carbon sink account owner in the memory of said at least one computer to a second carbon sink account owner being in the memory of said at least one computer or in the memory of some other computer. Such a system can also comprise a user interface being in said at least one computer via which the users can use and manage the system. The system can then have been arranged to operate e.g. via the Internet such that the required software is located on a server of an administration service provider of carbon sink accounts on which server also the carbon sink accounts of the carbon sink account owners are maintained (e.g. in the so-called cloud). Then, the user can communicate with the computer program on the server in question e.g. with their own computer, tablet computer or mobile device and thus manage the carbon sink accounts they own as well as trade in carbon sinks. The user’s computer can then have a user interface with which the computer program on the service provider’s server can be used.

In an embodiment of the system according to the invention, the computer program further comprises software means for converting a carbon sink value on a carbon sink account in the memory of said at least one computer into an emission allowance corresponding to an emission allowance defined in the applied emissions trading. The monetary value of the carbon sink value converted to the emission allowance can be measured in the price of the current emission allowance. Then in the trade between the buyer and the seller of the carbon sink, it is possible to agree on a price the buyer of the carbon sink pays to the seller (producer) of the carbon sink. The seller of the carbon sink is typically a land and/or forest owner and the buyer an industrial company covered by e.g. the EU emissions trading system or some other emissions trading system.

In an embodiment of the system according to the invention, the software means for determining a change in the extent of the carbon storage comprise software means for determining the volume of biomass formed from trees and/or other plants. In such an embodiment of the system, the quantity of the change in the carbon storage, i.e. the carbon sink value, can be determined e.g. by deducting the extent of the carbon storage determined before the time period from the extent of the carbon storage determined after the time period. Alternatively or additionally, the system can comprise a data-communication link to the computer of a provider performing the determination of the carbon storage for reading the determined carbon sink value of the soil and/or forest area and/or the value of the extent of the carbon storage from the data system of the service provider.

In an embodiment of the system according to the invention, the system comprises an identification means for recognizing and identifying the owner of the carbon sink account and a reader device connected to at least one computer for reading the identification means. The identification means can be e.g. a magnetic tape card, an integrated circuit card, an RFID identifier, an NFC identifier or a card provided with a QR code or some other suitable electrically or optically machine-readable identification means. The identification means can thus include a code by which the system identifies the user and enables the signing of the user in their own carbon sink account. For signing in, the computer program can comprise a sign-in stage in which the user is required to identify with the identification means and by entering a PIN code or giving their fingerprint in order to prevent abuse.

A system according to the invention is used e.g. in the following way:

1 . The extent of a carbon storage of a soil and/or forest area of a specified size and located on a specified site is determined at time period intervals and entered to at least one computer which includes a memory and a computer program stored to it for storing and processing the values of the extent of the carbon storage.

2. A change in the extent of the carbon storage, i.e. the volume of the carbon sink, formed over the time period examined is determined by a computer program in said at least one computer from the values of the extent of the carbon storage determined at the examined time period intervals.

3. The determined volume of the carbon sink is stored in the memory of said at least one computer as a carbon sink value onto a predetermined carbon sink account.

4. Personal information of the owner of the carbon sink account is entered and linked to the carbon sink account in the memory of said at least one computer. This identification stage of the owner of the carbon sink account takes place by means of an identification means and a reader device connected to the computer which reader device can read the identification means which can be e.g. a magnetic tape card, an integrated circuit card, an RFID identifier, an NFC identifier or a card provided with a QR code or some other suitable electrically or optically machine-readable identification means.

5. The carbon sink value is transferred from the carbon sink account of the first carbon sink account owner in the memory of said at least one computer to the carbon sink account of a second carbon sink account owner in the memory of said at least one computer or in the memory of some other computer.

Various methods can be used for determining the extent of a carbon storage formed by a certain soil and/or forest area. The extent of the carbon storage can be determined e.g. by means of measurements performed in the soil and/or forest area and/or mathematical models. The extent of the carbon storage can also be fetched from a data network from the server of e.g. a public or private service provider which studies and maintains a database on changes in the volumes of biomass (and thus carbon storages) and/or on the volume of carbon sinks determined by them in the soil and forest areas of the region.

The carbon sink account can also contain updated information on the carbon sink value of the carbon sink formed over the time period as emission allowances in accordance with e.g. the EU emissions trading system or some other emissions trading system. The carbon sink value can be converted into the quantity of emission allowances by multiplying a carbon sink value corresponding to the carbon sink formed over the time period examined by a price (determined e.g. in a carbon sink exchange) of an emission allowance corresponding to it. The time period examined can be e.g. one calendar year or some other suitable time period (determined by the EU emissions trading system or some other emissions trading system).

For many parts, the system and the method according to the invention can be implemented in a different way from the above embodiment examples. For example in some embodiments, the system can comprise an application used on a computer or a mobile device in which the buyers of carbon sinks can call for offers or bid on carbon sink values or emission allowances entered in the system. The system and method according to the invention does not thus limit to the above-described embodiment examples but it can vary within the scope of attached claims.