A tax credit for private forest carbon is a no-brainer

President Biden’s bold commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050 requires not only emissions reductions, but the removal of existing carbon from the atmosphere. Private forests offer the largest, most immediate opportunity to sequester and store carbon in the United States. To encourage private forest owners to capture and store more carbon on their lands, Congress should use the same incentive that successfully increased the development of renewable energy: a tax credit. 

Reducing excess carbon in the atmosphere is critical to combat climate change. The National Academy of Sciences and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agree that it is a key component of any serious climate change strategy and necessary to reach net-zero and avoid the worst impacts of that change. To achieve these goals, experts also agree that we will need both technologies like direct air capture, which removes excess carbon dioxide from the air and safely stores it deep underground, and natural approaches like tree planting and forest and ecosystem management.

Private forests in the United States could capture and store an additional 550 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, according to a comprehensive study by The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other leading academics. This is enough to meet at least 25 percent of Biden’s 2030 emission reduction target. To realize this opportunity, however, private forest owners need to change how they manage their forests, and that requires upfront investments that few can afford. As a result, it would be good policy for Congress to provide meaningful financial incentives to encourage private landowners to act.   

The good news is we know how to create and manage effective incentive programs to achieve climate goals. According to a report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), renewable energy production in the U.S. doubled once Congress put in place a financial incentives program. These incentives — more than $50 billion in available support, included tax credits to provide upfront financial support for developing renewable energy projects. 

Like the renewable tax credits, a tax credit for developing forest carbon projects could reduce the upfront costs for private forest owners to sequester and store more carbon in their forests and jumpstart the development of forest carbon projects nationwide. Research by the U.S. Forest Service and others show that the costs associated with carbon sequestration practices are the single most important reason private forest owners cite for not adopting those practices. An incentive program that helped private landowners afford to undertake these efforts would materially increase carbon capture and storage on their forestlands — up to an additional 550 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. 

There is strong bipartisan support for climate solutions that center on private forests, as shown by the Growing Climate Solutions Act that was recently passed in the Senate and has numerous bipartisan cosponsors in the House. At the USDA, Secretary Tom Vilsack is developing a Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry strategy as a part of a whole-of-government effort to combat the climate crisis and support the president’s climate vision. A tax credit for private forest carbon would complement these efforts and open the door for the 21 million private forest owners, including those historically underserved by USDA programs like Black family farmers, to support our national climate strategy. 

Congress should move quickly to prioritize investments in private forest carbon. We know tax credits work; they catalyze action. Let’s use them again to unleash the potential of our private forests to meet at least 25 percent of our national carbon reduction goal. 

Jonathan Silver is a senior advisor at Guggenheim Partners, led the Obama administration’s $40 billion investment program in alternative energy, financing a wide range of solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, fossil and nuclear energy projects. He is also the former chairman of the Board of American Forests. 

Alix Murdoch is the vice president of Conservation Finance and Policy at American Forests.