Posted by Ted Feldpausch
18 June 2019What will we do to ensure future generations have a livable climate? Now that the University of Exeter has declared an Environment and Climate Emergency, we are faced with the challenge to reduce carbon emissions and/or offset carbon emissions we are unable to reduce. I proposed that we use our considerable research expertise in forests and carbon cycling and teaching to develop our own University of Exeter Carbon Offset Fund (UECOF).
The UECOF fund would replace external third-party carbon offset funds, using our own teaching and research at Exeter to plan, implement, support, and evaluate projects to sequester carbon. This would make use of our forest carbon dynamics research in the tropics and opportunities to sequester carbon locally, e.g., through the Exeter Carbon Observatory. In practice, rather than paying for carbon offsetting for activities such as flights through travel web sites, the carbon offsetting payment would be made directly into the UECOF. Carbon offsetting would then be coordinated by a panel of Exeter researchers through funding local and international carbon sequestration project coordinated by Exeter researchers. Periodically, the fund would be externally audited, perhaps through agreements with other universities that create their own internal carbon offset funds. The fund and research could also take advantage of the strategic link between the UK Met Office and the University of Exeter, the Global Systems Institute (GSI), and Centre for Resilience in Environment, Water and Waste (CREWW) at Exeter.
Carbon sequestration projects could take a variety of forms. For example, degraded areas and areas unsuitable for agricultural in the region could be replanted with trees through work with local farms and conservation organisations. Wide tree buffers could be planted in riparian areas, perhaps in combination with rewilding projects such as beaver reintroduction and with a dual purpose of flood control. Students could plant trees and quantify carbon sequestration as part of their University of Exeter international fieldtrips. Deforested areas in temperate regions and the tropics could be replanted, with carbon uptake monitored by Exeter academics and students as part of the process.
The UECOF would provide opportunities to address the university’s carbon reduction goal, helping to ensure a stable climate for future generations, while also strengthening research and teaching at the university.
Text and photos: Dr Ted Feldpausch