Feature: Carbon 2 Markets

MSU is a world leader in using environmental research to make an impact globally while helping people better their lives.

            Michigan State University professor of forestry David Skole has been studying climate change for 25 years. As a member of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with U.S. Sen. Al Gore in 2007. As leader of the MSU Carbon2Markets program, he's using basic and applied research to simultaneously fight global warming and poverty, bettering lives, and positively affecting the planet.

            "The Carbon2Markets work is the application of more than 20 years of basic research on tropical forest conversion and climate change," says Skole. "We're using remote sensing technology to enhance basic forestry techniques to develop climate change solutions.”

            One third of MSU's tri-part mission is to conduct high quality research that makes a positive difference, both locally and globally. Another third is to advance outreach and economic development activities that lead to a better quality of life for people and communities, at home and around the world. The Carbon2Markets program elegantly achieves both of these goals.

            Carbon2Markets combines sustainable forest management with emerging carbon markets in a unique effort to help small farmers in developing countries grow crops that will boost their standards of living and slow climate change. The program includes collaborative projects with farmers, researchers and government agencies in 10 Asian and African countries, including Thailand, Laos and Senegal. The farmer groups are integrating high-value forest crops, such as jatropha, teak or shea, into the crops they're currently growing using methods that are smart and sustainable. Then the farmers use accounting techniques and standards created by MSU remote sensing and geographical information systems experts to accurately measure and record the carbon stored by the trees and soil. Storing carbon in the soil and plants keeps it out of the atmosphere, which helps slow global warming.

            Besides being one of the first efforts to help small landowners gain access to the carbon offset market, the project also helps support the research goals of its collaborators, such as the government of Thailand, which hasn't always been the case when developed countries work with developing countries.

            "We are very pleased to be collaborating with Michigan State University on this project," says Anond Bunyaratvej, secretary general of the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) during a July interview. "The King of Thailand supports reforestation and the NRCT works to support the King's initiative. This project with MSU fulfills both of the NRCT's objectives: to help people live and grow things sustainably, and to transition the country to a knowledge-based economy. There are very few projects that serve both purposes—we are very satisfied."

            “This is an exciting opportunity to leverage the growing carbon financial markets in the United States and Europe to assist poor farmers in developing countries,” says Skole. “The farmers can plant trees or participate in other vegetation regeneration projects and earn money, which can stimulate economic development in their communities, increase rural income and promote natural resource conservation.”

            The MSU Carbon2Markets program works with farmer groups composed of small landholders, usually farming 25 acres or fewer. This keeps management of the land in the hands of local villages, where it traditionally has been. Some Thai farmers feared that large reforestation projects would simply turn over forest management to large corporations, denying local people access.

            "I had been working with the Inpang Network (farmers in northeastern Thailand) for about 15 years on biodiversity projects when I met Professor Skole at a conference about five years ago," says Usa Klinhom, biology professor at MahaSarakham University (also known as MSU) in the northeast Isan region. "At the Inpang Network, we were already working on planting trees, but I was looking for ways to get more value from the trees than just growing them to harvest fruit and nuts. I was very interested in Professor Skole's work on measuring carbon sequestration."

            Largely rural, the Isan region is one of the poorest areas in Thailand; 85 percent of the people are rice farmers.  Klinhom asked Jeeraphan Suksringarm, dean of the Mahasarakham University Faculty of Science, if the two MSUs could work together on a project to add carbon storage to the reforestation and biodiversity work being done by the Inpang Network. Suksringarm was initially hesitant, but her respect for Klinhom's research led to her full support of the collaboration.

            "This project helped bring Mahasarakham University and the community together," Suksringarm says. "This is a unique project because we all have the same philosophy of transferring education to the community. If the community is strong, the university is strong. We're very proud to be part of this work."

            Accurately measuring stored carbon offers the farmers the potential to earn money on the global carbon market—the Carbon2Markets program has agreements in place with the Chicago Climate Exchange, which offers trading for all greenhouse gases, to provide a market for the carbon credits. A farmer who planted trees on about three acres would earn about $40 per year from the carbon market at current prices. A 25-acre plot could earn up to $400 per year—a significant amount in a region of Thailand where the average annual income is about $1,200.

            An interesting sidenote about the Chicago Climate Exchange is that Michael Walsh, the group’s executive vice president, earned his doctorate in business and economics from MSU in 1987.

            The farmers also use and sell the forest products they grow. Jatropha tree nuts can be used to make biodiesel, which is then used to run farm equipment, fuel lamps or produce energy for a village. Shea tree nuts yield shea butter, a staple ingredient in high-end moisturizing lotions and cosmetics. The trees also provide food, timber, firewood and medicines.

            “The ability to link tree-planting with near-term payments through the emerging carbon markets—with additional payments from other forest products coming online in subsequent years—has the potential to positively affect millions of lives," Skole says. "And the continued generation of high-value tree products such as fruits and oil-producing nuts serves to protect the stored carbon from being harvested as fuel wood, burned and re-released into the atmosphere."

            Besides Skole, other members of the Carbon2Markets team are Oscar Castaneda, research assistant; Walter Chomentowski, research specialist; Stuart Gage, professor of entomology; Eric Kasten, information technologist; Jay Samek, research assistant; Gene Safir, professor of plant pathology; Brent Simpson, visiting associate professor in the Institute of International Agriculture; and Mike Smalligan, research assistant.

            The Carbon2Markets program is supported by the United Nations, NASA, the World Wildlife Fund, the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development, the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, Global Change System for Analysis and Training, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and the MSU Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. Skole's research also is supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Web Links Of Interest:

Special Report: http://special.news.msu.edu/jatropha/index.php

Office of Biobased Technologies: http://www.bioeconomy.msu.edu/news/c2m.aspx

Carbon2Markets: http://www.carbon2markets.org/

MSU Today blogs: http://msu-today.blogspot.com/2009/07/602.html

Video report on MSU's YouTube site: http://www.youtube.com/user/MichiganStateU#play/user/EFF729BE6C45C33B/0/9QvTjpopSmw

There also will be Big Ten Network and MSU Today video pieces on Carbon2Markets -- I'm checking with Jim Peck to see when they're going to run.

FUEL ON THE HOME FRONT: GROWING YELLOW TO GO GREEN

            In research typical of MSU Extension, a team of MSU scientists are working to demonstrate how local resources can grow, process and use biofuel—creating a model that will help drive Michigan’s new green economy and could be replicated across the world.

            MSU chemical engineering professor Dennis Miller's work in Michigan to demonstrate the feasibility of small, local canola biodiesel cooperatives parallels the Carbon2Markets work in Thailand. One of Miller's collaborators, visiting engineering researcher Lars Peereboom, is working with Skole to set up jatropha oil processing equipment in Thailand.

            Though they're tiny, canola seeds gush with oil—a single seed is more than 40 percent oil, making canola one of the world's most oil-dense crops. In comparison, soybeans are only 18 percent oil and corn is 4 percent oil. Miller and other scientists believe canola has the potential to play a role in unclenching the grip that imported petroleum fuels have on Michigan, as well as offering growers new markets for a high-value crop.

            “The point of this research is to show farmers that canola can be successfully grown as a cash crop—that there are multiple markets for it—and then demonstrate that local co-ops can crush the seed and process the oil into biodiesel, which can then be used to power tractors and other equipment," Miller says. "We can actually close the loop and produce fuel entirely within the state.”

            Miller; Russ Freed, MSU professor of crop and soil sciences; and Dan Blackledge, a biofuel entrepreneur, who serves as project manager, oversee the canola biodiesel project, working with farmers in Eaton and Osceola counties who grew winter and spring canola.

            In the summer of 2008, Miller and Peereboom established crushing and biodiesel processing facilities at the MSU Biorefinery Training Facility at the Michigan Brewing Company (MBC). They also worked out transportation and storage logistics for the canola seed.

            The crusher can smash 1 ton of seeds per day, enough for about 100 gallons of biodiesel. The scientists have been making 50-gallon batches to test various procedures.

            "We've been testing processing methods to evaluate the various techniques and the quality of the biodiesel," Miller says. "MSU Grounds has a mandate to be greener, so they're looking at using more biofuels. They're already using B5 (a blend of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent petroleum diesel) in some equipment and have tried B20 but had some problems with it. Now they're testing the biodiesel that we made."

            A large portion of the canola oil and the biodiesel made at the MBC facilities returns to campus for other research projects on biofuels, bioplastics and fuel additives. Bobby Mason, MBC owner, is using some of the biodiesel to fire the company's beer tanks. The MSU Grounds Dept. will continue to use some of the biodiesel in its equipment. Farmers who participated in the project have the option of using some of the biodiesel in their tractors and other equipment.

            "Everyone is very pleased with the results so far," Miller says. "We hope to be able to give any interested groups a blueprint of how they can do this at the local level."

Author: Jamie Depolo is communications manager of the MSU Office of Biobased Technologies.