Washington, 23 October 2009 

An accounting error in the Senate climate bill could undermine reduction targets, scientists say. 

Writing in the journal Science, 13 scientists said leading cap-and-trade legislation before Congress makes the mistake of not counting CO2 emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks when bioenergy is being used.

“This accounting erroneously treats all bioenergy as carbon neutral regardless of the source of the biomass, which may cause large differences in net emissions,” the article says.

It also does not count changes in emissions from land use when biomass for energy is harvested or grown. For example, the clearing of long-established forests to burn wood or to grow energy crops is counted as a 100 per cent reduction in energy emissions despite causing large releases of carbon, the authors say.

The accounting problem, which is embedded in the House and Senate cap-and-trade bills as well as the Kyoto protocol, can be easily fixed, the authors said.

But influential lawmakers that hail from biofuel-producing midwestern states will likely fight to keep the provision in place.

The Senate’s Kerry-Boxer bill seeks to reduce US emissions 20 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020. It directs some allowance value to be spent preserving forests abroad.

Ends -- 

By Rory Carroll, Point Carbon