Removals: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report - Global Warming of 1.5°C, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) refers to the process of removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. Being the opposite of emissions, practices or technologies that remove CO₂ are often described as achieving 'negative emissions'. There are two main categories of CDR: from enhancing existing natural processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere (e.g. by increasing its uptake by trees, soil, or other 'carbon sinks'), or from chemical processes to, for instance, capture CO₂ directly from ambient air and store it elsewhere.
It is conceptually possible that techniques to extract CO₂ from the atmosphere (known as carbon dioxide removal or CDR) could contribute to limiting the warming of the planet to 1.5°C. One possible use of CDR could be to offset greenhouse gas emissions from sectors that cannot fully decarbonize their activities or that may take a long time to do so.
Afforestation (planting new trees in areas where there was no forest) and reforestation (replanting trees in areas where there was forest but it has been converted) are also considered forms of CDR because they increase the natural "sinks" of CO₂.¹
Anthropogenic removals, which refer to the removal of GHGs (greenhouse gases) from the atmosphere as a result of deliberate human activities, are still possible. This includes increasing biological CO₂ sinks and using chemical engineering to achieve removal and long-term storage.²
1. Reference available here.
2. Reference available here.
Carbon removals at Suzano
Carbon removals occur when there is forest biomass growth, for example, when a single tree is planted in a pasture area or when an existing planted area is increased, for instance from 500 hectares to 600 hectares.
The method used to estimate carbon removal in eucalyptus plantations is in line with international methodologies, based on IPCC (2003 and 2006) guidelines. The calculation of carbon removals was done according to the "stock change method", according to the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories; Volume 4: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use; Chapter 4: Forest Lands.
Primary data from the Forest Inventory are used to calculate wood volume, and standard IPCC (2006) factors to convert wood volume to carbon stocks. Thus, GHG removals are calculated using the stock change method according to IPCC (2006) guidelines.
For areas intended for conservation and restoration, the "gain-loss" method is used to calculate the volume of carbon removals. Methodology also recommended by the IPCC Guidelines. This calculation uses information and data from the company's forest registry combined with carbon stock factors by phytophysiognomy and biome, and by successional stage (level of forest maturity).
All these factors come from the most consolidated and recognized bibliographic references from Brazil and the IPCC.
The value of CO₂ removal linked to the process of environmental restoration and High Conservation Value areas is included in the removal values of the areas intended for conservation.
When there is an increase of the stock (biomass growth) the volume is considered as "Direct removals by land use change". When there is a reduction of the stock (loss of biomass), the volume is considered as "Direct removals due to land use change".
Carbon removals
| Carbon removals, in tons of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Habitats protegidos por tipo¹ | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzano S.A. – planted forests | Suzano S.A. – native vegetation | Suzano S.A. - overall | Suzano S.A. – planted forests | Suzano S.A. – native vegetation | Suzano S.A. - overall | Suzano S.A. – planted forests | Suzano S.A. – native vegetation | Suzano S.A. - overall | |||||
|
Biogenic emissions by land use |
16,696,140.75 |
n/a |
16,696,140.75 |
33,063,426.44 |
n/a |
33,063,426.44 |
35,504,588.97 |
n/a |
35,504,588.97 |
Mata Atlântica |
342,979.68 |
345,268.09 |
354,355.05 |
|
Biogenic Removals by Land Use |
-28,826,714.24 |
-3,345,980.39 |
-32,172,694.63 |
-48,231,510.96 |
-3,815,755.12 |
-52,047,266.08 |
-44,824,539.53 |
-3,884,558.80 |
-48,709,098.33 |
Cerrado |
307,612.40 |
329,360.69 |
427,170.12 |
|
Balance between land use emissions and removals |
-12,130,573.49 |
-33,459,803,900.00 |
-15,476,553.88 |
-15,205,266.10 |
-3,815,755.12 |
-18,983,839.64 |
-9,319,950.56 |
-3,884,558.80 |
-13,204,509.37 |
Mangue |
789.65 |
313.76 |
308.47 |
|
Restinga |
9,938.51 |
7,897.28 |
6,975.91 | ||||||||||
|
Amazônia |
237,166.60 |
242,027.15 |
253,390.70 | ||||||||||
|
Total |
898,486.85 |
924,866.97 |
1,042,200.26 | ||||||||||
Additional information
The removal in 2021 was lower than in 2020, albeit still very significant, at 13.2 million tons of CO₂. The reduction is due to basic adjustments (buying, selling, planting and harvesting) with a higher "emission" (harvesting process) and a lower removal (biomass increase). However, the removal is still at high levels due to the increase in the volume of biomass per hectare. In addition, to carry out our inventory of carbon stocks and removals, we included eucalyptus plantations that were 2 years old (inserted in Suzano's cadastral base). Moreover, as part of the improvement process, we have made an update in the classes of vegetation (successional stage) of conservation areas in the forestry registry.
We emphasize that the inventory of carbon stocks and removals by our forests was verified by a third party.