Wood Harvesting and Storage with Wood Vault for Durable Carbon Sequestration: Science, Implementation, MRV, and Governance Needs

Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) is a novel hybrid Nature-engineering method for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and sequestration for 1000 years or longer. In this method, woody biomass is buried in Wood Vault, an engineering structure designed to maintain anaerobic condition to prevent wood decomposition. The storage accumulates indefinitely as wood accumulates in a near-geological state. It is low cost($20-$50/tonne) and highly scalable. We estimate a potential of 1-2 GtCO2/year for utilizing wood residuals with cobenefits such as fire fuel reduction and waste wood management. The potential can be up to 10 GtCO2/y with sustainably harvested wood from managed forests. Several entities around the world have started biomass burial projects with private or philanthropic support. Yet, very little scientific, environmental and governance guidance exists. We discuss the good practices and potential pitfalls of WHS. We describe a guidance for WHS implementation based on input from scientific community and a broad spectrum of governance and carbon market players. We propose research directions the scientific community needs to take to ensure that it is carried out with scientific rigor and practicability:

1) How to ensure sustainable wood sourcing?

2) What are the best ways to engineer Wood Vault to ensurethe longevity of stored wood?

3) How to monitor and verify the stored carbon?

4) How to conduct full carbon accounting, includingmanagement of forest, baseline, and emissions of operation?