Monitoring of CO2 removals in the forest of the Campo Geotérmico Alfredo Mainieri Protti

Abstract

Summary The land acquired by ICE to harness geothermal sites are subject to restoration and preservation of forest ecosystems which are suitable to generate atmospheric carbon removal. As part of the Carbon Neutral Country Program 2.0, since 2016, ICE conducts forests inventories to determine the annual rate of CO2 removal of the natural ecosystems on Alfredo Mainieri Protti Geothermal Camp (AMPGC). The total reservoir or stock of carbon accumulated in the forest biomass at the AMPGC is 348,592 tCO2-e, equivalent to 194 tCO2-e/ha ( PGF-INISEFOR, 2017 ). The base inventory conducted in 2016 identified high forests as the main carbon drain from forestall biomass. This class contributed to 71% of the stock (138 tCO2-e/ha / 193 tCO2-e/ha). Secondarily, it is the pole stands class accumulated 28% of carbon fixed by forest biomass (55 tCO2-e/ha). The other smaller fractions (necromass, leaf litter, and herbaceous vegetation) contribute with only 1% (estimated as an average of 0,34%, equivalent to 0,7 tCO2-e/ha). At the end of the fourth periodic measurement from 2016-2020, there was an average annual increase of the total mass o removals of 16.745 tCO2-e/year in a total area of 1.450 ha with forest coverage, equivalent an average estimate by ha of 11.55 tCO2-e/ha-year.