Context and Future Directions for Integrating Forest Carbon into
Sub-National Climate Mitigation Planning in the RGGI+ Region of the U.S.
Abstract
International frameworks for climate mitigation that build from national
actions have been developed under the United National Framework
Convention on Climate Change and advanced most recently through the
Paris Climate Agreement. In parallel, sub-national actors have set
greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals and developed corresponding climate
mitigation plans. Within the U.S., multi-state coalitions have formed to
facilitate coordination of related science and policy. Here, utilizing
the forum of the NASA Carbon Monitoring System’s Multi-State Working
Group (MSWG), we collected and reviewed climate mitigation plans for 11
states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) region of the
Eastern U.S. For each state we reviewed the 1) policy framework for
climate mitigation, 2) GHG reduction goals, 3) inclusion of forest
carbon in the state’s climate action plan, 4) existing science used to
estimate forest carbon, and 5) stated needs for carbon monitoring
science. Across the region, we found important differences across all
categories. While all states have GHG reduction goals and framework
documents, nearly three-quarters of all states do not account for forest
carbon when planning GHG reductions; those that do account for forest
carbon use a variety of scientific methods with various levels of
planning detail and guidance. We suggest that a common, efficient,
standardized forest carbon monitoring system would provide important
benefits to states and the geographic region as a whole. In addition,
such a system would allow for more effective transparency and progress
tracking to support state, national, and international efforts to
increase ambition and implementation of climate goals.