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Afforestation/Reforestation/Carbon sinks

AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER

Sequestration of carbon dioxide is expected to be a necessary measure for fossil fuels to remain competitive as an energy source under greenhouse gas (GHG) emission constraints. AEP has invested in two primary approaches toward this end: forest-based and geological carbon sequestration. Although these two options are based on different timelines and technologies, both are intended to serve as complementary means to improve the viability of carbon sequestration as an instrument to reduce atmospheric concentrations of GHGs and address global climate change.

Forest-based Sequestration

While AEP has been in the business of planting trees on company lands since the 1940s (for a total approaching 60 million trees planted), the company actively began managing its forestry Programme for carbon sequestration with the advent of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Climate Challenge Programme that began in the early 1990’s. Under DOE’s Climate Challenge Tree Planting Project, AEP has planted 21,914 acres with nearly 19 million mixed hardwood and conifer trees at a cost of approximately $5.7 million. Projected CO₂ sequestration is 4.7 million metric tons over the term of the project. In a separate initiative in Louisiana, AEP has planted 9,784 acres with nearly 3 million bottomland hardwood trees at a cost of $6.25 million. Projected carbon sequestration is over 4.4 million metric tons.

AEP is a founding member of PowerTree Carbon Company, LLC, a voluntary carbon sequestration initiative. PowerTree, which has 25 member companies, will invest $3.4 million for reforestation of over 3,800 acres of bottomland hardwood projects in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The project will sequester over 2 million tons of CO₂ over the 100-year project term.

AEP is a participating member of the UtiliTree Carbon Company. UtiliTree is a consortium of 41 utilities organised by the Edison Electric Institute to invest in a portfolio of forestry projects that manage GHG emissions, particularly CO₂. A $3.2 million investment in eight domestic and two international projects will capture over 3 million tons of CO₂ over the life of these project.

Geological Sequestration

AEP’s Mountaineer Plant is the site for a $4.2 million carbon sequestration research project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and a consortium of public and private sector participants. Scientists from Battelle Memorial Institute lead this climate change mitigation research project, which will also involve researchers from several other partnering organisations and universities. This project is obtaining the data required to better understand the capability of deep saline aquifers for storage of carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

AEP is a member of a consortium that is working with the U.S. DOE on the FutureGen project. FutureGen is a $1 billion, public/private collaboration that aims to develop the world’s first nearly emission-free hydrogen and electricity production plant from coal, while capturing and disposing of CO₂ in geologic formations.

AEP is working with the MIT Energy Laboratory as part of a consortium researching the environmental impacts, technological approaches, and economic issues associated with carbon sequestration. The MIT research focuses on efforts to better understand and reduce the cost of carbon separation and sequestration.

KANSAI

Kansai Electric recognises the climate change issues as one of the important management issues to be addressed. Aiming to prevent global warming by expanding natural sinks, Kansai Electric has jointly implemented research and development of tropical rain forests reforestation with Gadja Mada University of Indonesia since FY 1992 when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted.

For a period of 10 research years up to FY 2001, Kansai Electric has developed tree planting technologies for raising survival rate and growth speed of lauan saplings utilizing the symbiotic relationship between lauan and mycorrhizal fungi.

In course of this research, Kansai Electric learned well that cooperation with the local community was indispensable for local tree planting projects. Based on this experience, along with developing tree planting technologies, Kansai Electric is also aiming at environmental tree planting projects that contribute to improve not only global environment but also local environment by helping sustainable development of the local communities. Kansai Electric has learned that this point of view is inevitable to be successful in implementing tree planting projects.

Based on this notion, Kansai Electric has implemented research and development of developing mangrove ecosystem restoration and reforestation technologies in Thailand since FY 2000. The project involves development of technologies that enable planting mangroves in seacoasts that have changed to desolate areas due to shrimp cultivation, and research and development of simple monitoring technologies using remote sensing, and development of technologies for determining best suitable areas for mangroves.

Utilising the knowledge and expertise gained from these reforestation research and development projects, Kansai Electric has started an environmental tree planting project planting 1,000 ha of mallee eucalyptus (a native species) in western Australia since FY 2002. Along with contributing to the global environment by expanding natural sinks, the project aims to contribute to the improvement of local environment by preventing soil salinisation, which has become a serious problem all over Australia as a result of clear-cutting of native vegetation.

Throughout a period of over 20 years of environmental tree planting, Kansai Electric expects absorption of 860,000 t-CO₂, and is now studying the possibility of using the knowledge and expertise obtained through this project in environmental tree planting projects in arid regions such as China and the Middle East where salinity problem has also emerged.

Ontario Power Generation

Biodiversity and Habitat Stewardship

The conservation of biological diversity is an integral part of OPG’s sustainable development efforts. Biodiversity, as a term, refers to the variety of life on earth. It includes the diversity of ecosystems, the diversity of species within those ecosystems and the genetic diversity within species. It is an inclusive concept, referring to the ecosphere and all of its ecosystems. Unsustainable human activity is the root cause of ecosystem stress and biodiversity losses worldwide. The challenge for society, and for its businesses and industries, is to develop business practices that do not materially impact ecosystems.

Intense land-use in southern Ontario poses great threats to ecosystems. Electricity generation can contribute to ecosystem stress through both direct and indirect pathways. Populations of some species can be adversely affected through the loss and fragmentation of habitat, and in the case of hydroelectric generation, through the modification of flow regimes and the creation of barriers (dams). Ecosystems, and the species they support, can also be indirectly affected through various pollution pathways arising from air and water emissions associated with the generation of electricity. OPG’s extensive pollution control efforts and habitat restoration programs will help to minimize these direct and indirect adverse effects.

In recognition of potential impacts, OPG has implemented a Biodiversity Policy that is responsive to international, national and regional treaties and initiatives, the Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada’s Species at Risk Act, the Ontario Endangered Species Act and the Ontario Biodiversity Strategy. The protection of sites with significant natural heritage values is a priority for OPG. Where this is not feasible, OPG will restore areas that are recoverable and as a last resort, replace habitat in kind where economically and ecologically practical.

OPG’s award-winning biodiversity program includes the undertaking of biodiversity assessments and management plans at each of our major plants and land-holdings. OPG strives to ensure that local conservation actions are responsive to broader regional conservation needs and priorities. Partnering with external conservation agencies and local municipalities also helps to ensure a coordinated and enduring approach to habitat stewardship and conservation.

OPG’s biodiversity management effort involves both off and on-site components.

Carbon Sequestration Linked to Biodiversity: The offsite Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity Management program links carbon sequestration, as an offset to greenhouse gas emissions from our fossil plants, with habitat restoration for forest wildlife at risk in the highly fragmented landscapes of southern Ontario. Since 2000, OPG and its partners have planted in excess of 1.86 million native trees and shrubs matched to site conditions, on more than 900 hectares of land, thereby addressing a variety of ecological restoration priorities across southern Ontario. The program focuses on restoring forest habitat which has lost greater than 80 per cent of its original forest cover. Plantings are targeted to expand key ’core’ forested areas and connect woodland patches to help promote the recovery of declining wildlife. In addition, management plans have been developed for each OPG site with objectives linked to regional biodiversity conservation priorities.

OPG is a significant player in the restoration of forest habitat in southern Ontario. OPG estimates that its total tree planting effort, to plant two million trees by 2007, will trap and offset about one million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of those trees. These same plantings also provide other important ecosystem services by reducing erosion, enhancing soil structure, recycling of nutrients and enhancing stream and air quality.

On-Site Management Action: OPG’s on-site habitat protection and restoration efforts represent an important contribution to the province’s biodiversity conservation efforts. Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy recognizes that all levels of government, non-governmental organizations, industry and the community in general must cooperate in the care of Ontario’s biological assets. OPG’s stewardship efforts focus on restoring habitats for species that may be declining regionally, thereby preventing other species from becoming imperiled, or listed as ’at risk’. Efforts to enhance supplies of forest-interior habitat, tall-grass prairie and savannah habitats and coastal wetlands are just a few examples of restoration activities that contribute to the recovery of declining populations. Some notable plant-based initiatives include:

Biological surveys of the river and Power Canal Lands associated with the hydroelectric facilities to identify plant and wildlife species of concern (endangered, threatened and special concern).
Identification of environmental issues related to water flows and levels near hydroelectric facilities
Tree planting, in cooperation with community groups, to:
- Stabilize slopes against erosion,
- Revert an area of manicured parkland to a mixture of open field and woodland,
- Promote riparian habitat restoration and wildlife corridor enhancement.
Bird nest boxes, wood duck boxes have been placed, maintained and monitored on sites.
Provided support for spring migratory bird banding.
Completed amphibian surveys of wetland areas for the rare Fowlers Toad.
Supported annual biological inventory of breeding birds and amphibians.
Enhanced wetland habitat through creation of ponds on site.
Planted wildflower gardens.
Undertaken a variety of biomonitoring programs, including coastal monitoring, fish impingement, amphibian monitoring.

Independent Third-Party Certification of Management Plans: One of OPG’s more notable partnerships is with US-based Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC). The WHC is a not-for-profit, non-lobbying group of corporations, conservation organizations and individuals dedicated to assisting corporate landowners in the development of programs that protect, conserve and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity and foster environmental values. Several of OPG’s site habitat management plans have been accredited by the WHC, four sites (Pickering GS, Nanticoke GS, Lambton GS and Darlington GS) have been certified by the WHC, and two of those sites, Pickering GS and Nanticoke GS, were re-certified in 2004.

To maintain certification, OPG must pass external audits from the WHC on a biennial basis to ensure plans are being effectively implemented and remain current. These efforts are in addition to annual reporting, monitoring and audits which are required to maintain our ISO 14001 registered environmental management systems.

Biodiversity-Related Awards: OPG has received praise for its Biodiversity Policy and related programs by several external groups including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Electric Power Research Institute and the Wildlife Habitat Council.

Global environment and sustainable energy development

The e8, comprising ten leading electricity companies from the G8 countries, was formed in 1992 following the Rio Summit to examine and co-operate on major global electricity-related issues, with an emphasis on the global environment and sustainable energy development.