Finnish forest owners' willingness to participate in result-based carbon offset schemes

Abstract

Forests are vital carbon sinks, playing a key role in combating climate change by absorbing nearly one-third of global annual greenhouse gas emissions. In Finland, forests cover 75 % of the country's land area. However, there is currently no policy in place to encourage increased carbon sequestration on privately-owned forestland. This study aims to explore forest owners' preferences for results-based carbon offset schemes and their attributes, contributing to the debate on whether to compensate forest owners based on carbon sequestration. To achieve this, data on forest owners' preferences for alternative carbon offset schemes were collected through an online survey, and a choice experiment was conducted. The results revealed significant diversity among Finnish forest owners in their attitudes towards carbon offset schemes. However, compensatory carbon payments appeared to be the only attribute that would motivate respondents in all classes to participate in carbon schemes. The results of both the conditional logit (CL) model and the latent class model (LC) indicated a high preference among forest owners for the non-participation option, suggesting low willingness to accept new schemes.