Carbon sequestration in Taiwan harvested wood products

This study, with FAOSTAT and Taiwan data sources, estimates Taiwan carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in harvested wood products (HWP) by applying the three accounting methods suggested by the 2006 IPCC Guidelines. The investigation also explores impulse responses of CO2 emissions to economic factors. Results from FAOSTAT and Taiwan data demonstrate an inconsistent production approach (PA) in the signs of the estimated CO2 emissions. Average contributions of HWP from 1990 to 2008 for the stock change approach (SCA), PA and atmospheric flow approach (AFA) in Taiwan are -3.195 Tg, 0.412 Tg and 10.632 Tg CO2 emissions, respectively. SCA has determined the Taiwan HWP as a carbon reservoir; in contrast, PA and AFA have determined Taiwan HWP as a CO2 emission. The net forest products imports into Taiwan induce the inconsistent signs of HWP carbon sequestration among SCA, PA and AFA. The vector autoregressive model (VAR) results also indicate that real GDP per capita is crucial for SCA CO2 emissions, followed by exchange rate.