Vår standard

The carbon balance of land-based systems plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Sixth Assessment Report, these systems act as a net carbon sink, offsetting 17% of emissions from fossil fuels and industrial processes. Managed forests account for the majority of this contribution, while deforestation results in carbon emissions. The report highlights that active forest management can significantly advance progress toward climate goals.

Carbon Capture Company has developed a standard to assess, verify and certify carbon removal from the atmosphere and its durable storage in actively managed Swedish forests available for wood supply, Carbon Forestry Standard – Sweden. The standard describes the requirements, procedures and criteria that must be met for certification. To align with the European Union Certification framework for carbon removals, https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-7514-2024-INIT/en/pdf, four overarching criteria must be met to be certified: quantification, additionality, long-term storage and sustainability. Thus, the Carbon Forestry Standard – Sweden serves as a tool to support the achievement of the Union objectives under the Paris Agreement, in particular the collective achievement of climate neutrality objective by 2050 laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (“the European Climate Law”). Carbon removals that are certified under this standard should contribute to reaching the national and European climate goals and support regulation (EU) 2018/841 of the European Parliament and of the Council (“LULUCF Regulation”) which sets out a Union target of 310 million tons CO₂ equivalent in net removals by 2030 and allocates respective targets to each Member State.

Article 1 Definitions

For the purposes of this standard, the following definitions apply:

1. ‘carbon removal’ means the anthropogenic removal of carbon from the atmosphere and its durable storage in living tree biomass;
2.  ‘carbon sequestration unit’ means one metric ton CO2 equivalent of certified temporary net carbon removal benefit, its usability as a carbon credit depends on verification and certification standards;
3. ‘carbon credit’ is a tradable financial instrument that represents the right to claim the removal of one ton of CO₂ from the atmosphere. In voluntary carbon markets, carbon sequestration units can be converted into carbon credits if they meet specific verification standards and additionality criteria and are registered by a certification scheme in its certification registry
4. ‘activity’ means one or more practices or processes carried out by an operator, or a group of operators, resulting in a temporary carbon removal from carbon forestry;
5. ‘biogenic carbon pool’ means living tree biomass, (litter, dead wood, dead organic matter, carbon in mineral soils and organic soils are not included);
6. ‘forest management unit’ means the area of forest available for wood supply controlled by an operator or group of operators according to ISO13391;
7. ‘operator’ means any legal or natural person or public entity who operates or controls an activity, or to whom decisive economic power over the technical functioning of the activity has been delegated; in the case of a carbon forestry activity, ‘operator’ means a forest owner or manager as defined by national law, or a competent public entity;
8. ‘group of operators’ means a legal entity that represents at least two operators and is responsible for ensuring that those operators comply with this scheme;
9. ‘activity period’ means a period over which the activity generates a net carbon removal benefit and which is determined in the applicable certification methodology;
10. ‘crediting period’ means the period over which credits can be issued, for example if the landowner intends to carry out several consecutive activities, i.e. the period of time in which the baseline is considered to be valid;
11. ‘monitoring period’ means the period over which the storage of carbon is monitored by a certification body as determined in the applicable certification methodology;
12. ‘carbon forestry’ means any practice or process, carried out over an activity period of at least one year, related forest management and resulting in capture and temporary storage (minimum 5 years) of atmospheric carbon into a biogenic carbon pool of living tree biomass.
13. ‘certification scheme’ means an organization that certifies the compliance of activities and operators with the quality criteria and certification rules set out in this document. A certification scheme provides the overarching framework and requirements for certification and appoints certifications bodies. In Sweden Carbon Capture Company acts as certification scheme;
14. ‘certification body’ means an independent, recognized conformity assessment body that has concluded an agreement with a certification scheme to carry out certification audits and issue certificates of compliance. At present a section under Carbon Capture Company acts as certification body. In the long run, more organizations can be trained to form certification bodies;
15. ‘certification methodology’ refers to the specific approach, method, or set of procedures used to assess and certify compliance with the requirements of Carbon Forestry Standard – Sweden. It defines how the assessment and verification process will be conducted, including sampling methods, data collection techniques, analysis procedures, and criteria for evaluation. Certification methodologies are typically tailored to the specific context and requirements of the standard they are associated with. They provide detailed guidance on how to implement the certification process effectively and ensure consistency and accuracy in certification outcomes.
16. ‘certification audit’ means an audit carried out by a certification body;
17. ‘re-certification audit’ means an audit carried out in the process of renewing a certificate issued by a certification body;
18. ‘certificate of compliance’ means a conformity statement issued by the certification body certifying that the activity complies with this document;
19. ‘reversal’ means the voluntary or involuntary release of carbon captured and stored by an activity back into the atmosphere;
20. ‘NPV’ means net present value, i.e. the difference between the present value of future cash inflows and the present value of future cash outflows for a forest management unit.

Article 2 Carbon Forestry

Carbon forestry is a green business model that rewards forest managers for adopting practices that increase carbon sequestration in living tree biomass while ensuring the protection of carbon stocks in dead organic matter and soils. These practices enhance carbon capture and/or reduce the release of carbon to the atmosphere. Only new carbon captured by trees can be certified under this standard – not existing carbon stocks.

The forest management unit (FMU) is defined as the entire property or properties controlled by the operator. This approach minimizes the risk of leakage, ensuring that forest carbon gains in one area are not offset by increased harvesting in another.

This standard is designed to minimize the administrative burden on forest owners while maintaining high standards for accuracy and precision in carbon balance estimates. Financial incentives can come from public or private sources, rewarding land managers for their practices that contribute to increased atmospheric carbon capture and storage.

Recently, an increasing number of private carbon farming initiatives have emerged in Europe where the land managers sell carbon credits on voluntary carbon markets. The potential for carbon forestry is significant and it is the right moment to scale up high quality supply at EU level. Exploiting at best this potential requires removing barriers that could prevent a large scale lift off and ensuring adequate reward for the carbon credits generated.

Carbon forestry credits can only be issued when carbon removals have occurred and been verified to ensure credibility. Credits can be seen as an additional “product” that land managers can sell together with their traditional products such as saw-timber and pulpwood. On the demand side, the buyers of these credits include economic operators within the bioeconomy such as wood processing companies that want to reduce the carbon footprint in their own value chains. This is particularly relevant, as harvested wood products with low carbon footprint can have recognized added value which can create a competitive advantage. The purchase of carbon forestry credits also offers a way to support Sweden’s climate goals, particularly its LULUCF commitments. The Swedish government could buy credits via reversed auctions to strengthen national carbon sinks and meet international obligations. Companies and individuals can also contribute by purchasing credits to balance their emissions, showcase sustainability efforts, and value the climate work of forest owners. This creates a market that incentivizes sustainable forestry while highlighting forests’ vital role in addressing climate change.

Carbon Forestry would be a new source of income for forest owners, who could in many cases benefit at the same time from advantages related to a growing supply of prosperous and well-growing forests. Furthermore, carbon forestry practices often provide co-benefits on biodiversity, enhance ecosystem services and help forest managers being more resilient to climate change. Nevertheless, it is crucial to ensure that credits generated through carbon forestry do not undermine other mitigation efforts coupled to a net long-term benefit in terms of GHG emission reduction.

Article 3 Eligibility for certification

Carbon removals shall be eligible for certification under this standard provided that the following conditions are met:

(a) they are generated from an activity that complies with the quality criteria set out in Articles 4 to 7;

(b) they are independently verified in accordance with Article 8.

Quality criteria’s

Article 4 Quantification

In the choice of methods relevant to the calculations of GHG emissions and removals, a conservative approach should be applied in line with the IPCC guidelines for national GHG inventory estimates, where applicable. This means that the methods used should result in conservative emission or removal estimates so that emissions are not underestimated, and removals are not overestimated.

Temporary carbon removals generated by carbon forestry should be quantified with a high level of accuracy to assure the highest quality and minimize uncertainties; and they should be based, where feasible, on the use of Tier 3 methodologies as specified in the 2006 IPCC guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and any further refinement. Monitoring should be based on an appropriate combination of on-site measurements with remote sensing and modelling according to rules set out in the appropriate certification methodology. It should make the best use of advanced technologies available, such as the National Laser Scanning and the National Forest Inventory, making full use of already existing tools, and ensure consistency with the national GHG inventories.

A carbon forestry activity shall provide a temporary net carbon removal benefit which shall be quantified using the following formulas:

Temporary net carbon removal benefit = CRbaseline – CRtotal – GHGassociated > 0,

where:

(a) CRbaseline is the carbon removal under the baseline,

(b) CRtotal is the total carbon removal of the activity,

(c) GHGassociated is the direct greenhouse gas emissions related to silvicultural practices during the activity including timber transport to the forest roadside.

The baselines shall be activity-specific and based on forest management plans of high quality to ensure representativeness of the standard performance of comparable practices and processes in similar social, economic, environmental, technological and regulatory circumstances and take into account the geographical context including local pedo-climatic and regulatory conditions. Typically, this involves conducting a net present value (NPV) optimization using a standard discount rate and without incorporating a price on carbon credits. In addition, the use of available digital technologies, including electronic databases and geographic information systems, remote sensing, novel on-site carbon quantification systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and of electronic maps, should be promoted to decrease the costs of establishing baselines and ensure the robustness of the monitoring of the activities. The activity-specific baselines shall be periodically updated, at the beginning of each activity period, unless otherwise stated in the applicable certification methodologies. The use of existing forest management plans to define baselines will reduce the administrative burden of the certification process.

Article 5 Additionality

Any activity shall be additional. To that end, it shall meet both of the following criteria:

(a) it goes beyond national statutory requirements at the level of an individual operator;

(b) the incentive effect of the certification is needed for the activity to become financially viable.

Additionality shall be proven through specific additionality tests in accordance with the applicable certification methodologies.

Article 6 Storage, monitoring and liability

An operator or group of operators shall demonstrate that an activity aims to store the carbon over the long-term. The certification methodologies should promote the prolongation of the monitoring period of the relevant carbon forestry activities, aiming at ensuring the long-term storage in biomass of the CO2 captured and to provide financial incentives to carbon forestry operators over the long term. To this end, it is appropriate that the certification methodologies incentivize operators to prolong the monitoring period several times, with the aim of storing captured carbon for at least several decades.

An operator or group of operators shall comply with the following criteria:

(a) they shall be subject to rules of monitoring and mitigating any identified risks of reversal occurring during the monitoring period.

(b) they shall be liable to address any reversal of the carbon captured and stored by an activity, occurring during the monitoring period, through appropriate liability mechanisms as set out in the applicable certification methodologies.

The monitoring rules for carbon forestry shall be set out in accordance with the rules laid down in the applicable certification methodologies. The monitoring of carbon removals shall be based on an appropriate combination of on-site measurements with remote sensing or modelling according to rules set out in the appropriate certification methodology. It shall make the best use of advanced technologies available making full use of already existing tools and ensure consistency with the national GHG inventories.

The liability mechanisms shall for carbon forestry be set out and duly justified in the applicable certification methodology and may include instruments such as up-front insurance or collective buffers.

The carbon removed and subsequently stored by a carbon removal activity shall be considered released to the atmosphere at the end of the monitoring period, unless that monitoring period is prolonged through a new certification of the activity.

Article 7 Sustainability

A carbon forestry activity shall at least generate co-benefits for the sustainability objective related to protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. It is a requirement that at least 5% of the area included in a project is voluntarily set aside for conservation purposes. If the operator is certified under FSC or PEFC, this requirement is automatically fulfilled. If not, compliance must be demonstrated through other verifiable means.

An activity shall not significantly harm and may also generate co-benefits for one or more of, the following sustainability objectives:

(a) climate change mitigation beyond the net carbon removal benefit;

(b) climate change adaptation;

(c) sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources;

(d) transition to a circular economy, including the efficient use of sustainably sourced bio-based materials;

Certified carbon credits are a result of increased standing stock of living trees, providing an additional benefit of enhanced tree growth and, consequently, increased opportunities for harvesting in the future.

Certification

Article 8 Certification methodologies

An operator or a group of operators shall apply the relevant certification methodology to comply with the criteria laid down in Articles 4 to 7. Currently, there is one methodology under this standard, for increased standing stock in existing forests (C1). In the coming years, the Commission will, via delegated acts, develop more detailed requirements for methodology that align with the European framework for carbon credits, which means that Carbon Forestry Standard – Sweden and methodologies under this standard may be revised in connection with this.

Carbon Capture Company or an appointed certification body shall conduct a certification audit to verify that the information submitted is in compliance with Articles 4 to 7. When, as a result of that certification audit, the compliance of the information submitted in accordance with the standard has been verified, the certification body will issue a certification audit report that includes a summary and a certificate of compliance. Carbon Capture Company will review the certification audit report and the certificate of compliance, and make the certification audit report, in full or, where necessary to preserve the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information, in a summarized form, and the certificate of compliance publicly available in the certification registry of Carbon Capture Company.

The certification body shall carry out regular re-certification audits to reconfirm compliance of the activity with Articles 3 to 6 and verify the net carbon benefit generated by the activity. The re-certification audits shall be carried out at the end of the commitment period and on every occasion that a new laser-scanning has been carried out, or more frequently as otherwise specified in the applicable certification methodology, depending on the characteristics of the relevant activity. As a result of that re-certification audit, the certification body shall issue a re-certification audit report that includes a summary, and an updated certificate of compliance. Carbon Capture Company shall review the re-certification audit report and the updated certificate of compliance, and make the re-certification audit report, in full or, where necessary to preserve the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information, in a summarized form, the updated certificate of compliance publicly available in the certification registry of Carbon Capture Company.

The operator or group of operators shall support the certification body during certification, and re-certification audits, notably by giving access to the activity premises and providing any data and documentation required.

The certification methodologies under this scheme aims to :

(a) ensure the robustness and transparency of carbon removals in managed forests;

(b) promote the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems;

(c) take into account the competitiveness of foresters in Sweden in a sustainable manner;

(d) promote the sustainable access to forest biomass;

(e) ensure the consistency of the application of the principle of the cascading use of biomass as per national authorities in accordance with Article 3(3) of Directive RED III;

(f) ensure the avoidance of unsustainable demand of biomass raw material;

(g) minimize the administrative and financial burden for operators, keep the certification process as simple as possible, and easy to use;

(h) ensure that cases of reversal are addressed through appropriate liability mechanisms such as collective buffers or up-front insurance mechanisms and as a last resort direct cancellation of units.

The certification methodologies shall include the following elements, taking into consideration the specificities for different activities:

(a) type of activity and description of the practices and processes covered, including its activity period and monitoring period;

(b) rules for identifying all carbon removal sinks and GHG emission sources referred to in Article 3;

(c) rules for calculating the baseline referred to in Article 4;

(d) rules for calculating the total carbon removals referred to in Article 4;

(e) rules for calculating GHG-associated emissions referred to in Article 4;

(f) rules for updating the activity-specific baseline referred to in Article 4;

(f) rules to address uncertainties in a conservative manner in the quantification of carbon removals referred to in Article 4;

(g) rules to carry out the specific additionality tests referred to in Article 5;

(h) rules on monitoring and mitigation of any risk of release of the stored carbon referred to in Article 6;

(i) rules on appropriate liability mechanisms referred to in Article 6, including rules on the risk of failure of the relevant liability mechanism;

(j) rules on the minimum sustainability requirements referred to in Article 7;

(k) rules on the monitoring and reporting of the co-benefits referred to in Article 7.

Certification bodies

Initially, a section within the Carbon Capture Company will form the certification body, but when needs increase, external third-party auditors can be appointed. Certification bodies appointed by Carbon Capture Company must:

(a) be competent to carry out the certification and re-certification audits referred to in Article 7;

(b) legally and financially independent from the operators or from a group of operators and carry out the activities required under this Scheme in the public interest.

(c) carry out the activities required under this standard in the public interest.

Certification bodies or any part thereof shall not:

(a) be an operator or a group of operators, the owner of an operator or of a group of operators, or be owned by them;

(b) have relations with operators or with a group of operators, that could affect their independence and impartiality.

Carbon Capture Credits – Registry

Carbon Capture Company has established a registry for temporary carbon removals to make publicly available the information related to the certification process, in an accessible way, containing the information listed below. The registry uses electronic templates, to make publicly accessible in a secure way the information related to the certification process, including the certificates of compliance and updated certificates of compliance, to enable the tracing of the quantity of certified units and avoid double counting. The registry is financed by fixed fees payable by operators, proportionate to the number of credits issued, to sufficiently contribute covering the annual operating costs of establishment and management of the registry, such as those for staff or IT tools.

Using the unique credit number and code, the following information can be traced to each Carbon Capture Company certified carbon forestry sequestration unit:

(a) Name and type of project to capture carbon dioxide by creating a forest carbon sink, including the name and contact details of the operator or group of operators.

(b) Geographical location of the carbon sink.

(c) Calendar year of the activity.

(d) Permanence of the carbon removed (years).

1. e) Information on whether the credit is ex-ante or ex-post.
2. d) Name of the certification methodology (Carbon Capture Company has at present one methodology for increased timber supply in existing forests (ex post) C1.

(e) Carbon Capture Company name and address and logo;

1. g) Place and date of issue of the certificate.
2. h) Reference to the applicable methodology for calculating net carbon removal.

(i) Sequestered carbon expressed as CO2 equivalents.