CAA Worksheet¶
Optional Worksheet
The CAA worksheet is where regulatory carbon credits issued to the forest estate can be defined and aligned against the planning units that account for the standing timber that actually sequestered the carbon upon which the regulatory credits are based. It also defines how carbon credits will be issued from the start of the optimisation model onwards.
Carbon credits are known by different names in different jurisdictions. For example, in New Zealand a regulatory carbon credit is called a New Zealand Unit (NZU) and in Australia it is called an Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU).
The forest estate area that contains the standing timber that sequestered the carbon for which an NZU or ACCU has been issued are also known by different names in different jurisdictions. For example:
- Carbon Accounting Area (CAA) = New Zealand
- Carbon Estimation Area (CEA) = Australia
Example¶
Column Definitions¶
| Group | Column | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Plunit | B | This is a plunit that exists on the Plunits worksheet and is allocated to a CAA. |
| Area | C | This is the area of the plunit that contributes to the total area of the CAA. This area can be different to the plunit's actual area on the Plunits worksheet. If this area entry is blank the area of the plunit from the Plunits worksheet is used. |
| YOE | D | The Year of Establishment (YOE) of the plunit contributing to the area of the CAA. If this is blank the YOE of the plunit from the worksheet Plunit is used. [Not currently used - leave blank] |
| CAA/CEA | E | CAA = Carbon Accounting Area (New Zealand), CEA = Carbon Estimation Area (Australia), CCA = Carbon Calculation Area (Tigermoth). The solution reporting templates consolidate Sub-Areas into CAAs. All CAAs are then listed in the reporting workbooks alongside their Participant and Trading Entity. |
| Sub-Area | F | A Sub-Area is an identifier of discreet area entries within a CAA. The sum of a CAA's sub-areas is the total area of the CAA. This is a unique name/identifier within a discreet CAA. Currently each plunit within a CAA should be given a unique sub-area identity. This may be subject to further change so that a sub-area can consist of multiple plunits, but currently it is best to use a unique sub-area value for each plunit. |
| Participant | G | This can be the actual Participant name from the MPI Participant Unit Balance report or similar. The combination of CAA and Participant form a unique key for a CAA within a Trading Entity. |
| Trading Entity | H | This is the highest level of grouping within a carbon optimisation model. It is the entity within which the net trading position of carbon credits and debits are calculated. Carbon credits and debits are not traded across Trading Entities, so each Trading Entity has a unique carbon trading position. There can be more than one Trading Entity in an optimisation model and the contribution of all Trading Entities will be considered in the Objective Function. Trading Entities can have one or more Participants. The carbon credits awarded to the participants of a Trading Entity can be traded amongst the various participants in a Trading Entity; the net carbon trading position of the individual participants consolidates to that of the Trading Entity. This allows a Participant's carbon debits to be offset by the carbon credits from other Participants within a Trading Entity. An row entry on the CAA worksheet that only has Trading Entity and Carbon Grade entries, plus an entry for carbon credits and/or carbon debits seeds those additional carbon credit and debit values into the opening carbon trading account balance for the Trading Entity. If the Trading Entity cell is blank then all data on the worksheet row is ignored. |
| Carbon Table | I | This a lookup key that maps to the Carbon worksheet. It is the carbon sequestration table that applies from the Beginning Year of Sequestration (BYOS). This is considered the 'regulatory' carbon sequestration table. The 'biological' carbon sequestration table is assigned at a plunit level on the Plunits worksheet. The 'regulatory' carbon sequestration table defines the issuance and resumption of carbon credits by tree-crop age. The carbon sequestration table can be based solely on carbon credit issuance for a period of time, being a carbon 'Averaging' approach; or it can be based on issuance and resumption across a plunit's complete growing and harvesting cycle, being a carbon 'Stock Change' approach. |
| Carbon Grade | J | This is a lookup key that maps to an entry on the Index worksheet of the forest description. The Carbon Grade index defines the value of a single carbon credit in each period of the model. The functionality therefore allows the pricing of different 'qualities' of carbon credits, while at the same time allowing each carbon credit to represent exactly one tonne of CO2 equivalent. It is envisaged that future carbon optimisation models will price different types of sequestered carbon at different rates depending on the previous land use or species of timber that underpins the sequestration. |
| BYOS | K | This is the Beginning Year of Sequestration. It is the starting year from which the software will calculate and consolidate carbon credit issuance for the plunits within a CAA during the optimisation model. This is the year after the ending year of the emissions return period that has been used to calculate and provide the number of existing carbon credits on issue for the CAA. For example, if the emissions return period that calculated the NZUs allocated to the CAA covered the period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012, then the BYOS is 2013. This aligns to 1 January 2013 which is the first day of the next carbon sequestration accounting period for the CAA. |
| Carbon Credits | L | These are the total number of carbon credits that have been issued by the regulatory authority and have been registered against the CAA. This is a gross number, it is not the net amount that considers carbon debits that may have been created by selling carbon credits. Data are entered at a plunit level, but that is only for convenience, it is the sum total for the unique CAA that is important. Commonly this value will be derived from the MPI Participants Unit Balance statement that lists each CAA and the number of carbon credits issued to it. The date at which that value is calculated is the day before the Beginning Year of Sequestration. Preferably the carbon credit balance is as at 31 December allowing the BYOS to be 1 January of the next year. |
| Carbon Debits | M | There is no concept of a carbon debit at an individual CAA/CEA level. Carbon debits only exist at the Participant level, and these roll up to the carbon trading account of a Trading Entity. Data are entered at a plunit level, but that is only for convenience, it is the sum total for the unique Participant that is important. |
| Residual Carbon | N | This is the remaining amount of pre-existing residual carbon that needs to be considered for the sub-area. This value is a per unit area measure, i.e. per hectare data. This is needed to account for the carbon stock change for the new tree-crop where the new tree-crop is at an age that is young enough to need to consider the pre-existing residual carbon from a previous tree-crop that continues to be present within a carbon accounting area. This value is used in conjunction with the PODR (Periods of Decay Remaining), which defines the number of periods to consider the pre-existing residual carbon decay in the stock change calculation. |
| PODR | O | Periods of Decay Remaining. The number of periods to consider the pre-existing Residual Carbon amount per unit area in the stock change calculation. |