Portugal Lets Forest Owners Harvest and Still Earn Carbon Credits
Owners must commit their forests for 30 to 50 years under Portugal's new improved forest management method, with up to two extensions on top.
Maritime pine in the Dunas de Ovar forest in the Aveiro district, south of Porto, where Portugal's new improved forest management method credits owners for stretching the time between harvests on stands like these. (Photo Credit: Anamomarques via Dreamstime, ID 476549584)
Thicker stands and longer harvest cycles now qualify for carbon credits in Portugal, with standing forest eligible for the national carbon market alongside new plantings. That is according to Portugal’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, which on Tuesday announced the approval of new methods for reforestation and improved forest management.
“We are creating conditions for more owners, entities and companies to invest in the forest and climate action,” said Maria da Graça Carvalho, Portugal’s Minister of Environment and Energy. She said the wider choice of methods would “strengthen the credibility and growth capacity of the Voluntary Carbon Market,” whilst mobilising private money for projects that also build “the resilience of our forests.”
“The new methodologies allow for a more diversified set of forestry interventions,” the ministry’s statement notes, nearly a year after the government launched the market with a single afforestation method. It comes as two afforestation projects have registered on the platform, with a third now in initial validation.
Under the improved forest management method, owners can also claim to convert a production forest into one of the forest habitats listed in the European Union’s Habitats Directive. Land qualifies only where tree cover already exceeds 10 per cent, according to the improved forest management draft released for public comment.
“Forest land use will be maintained through successive cycles of planting and sustainable management,” the draft states, on the assumption that a credited forest may still be cut over time. Final felling during a project is barred only where the owner’s forest management plan does not provide for it, with salvage after fire or pests exempt.
As it stands, projects must run for between 30 and 50 years under the draft, with the carbon checked every five years. Owners can then extend twice, by 20 or 25 years each, bringing the longest projects to a full century.
Portuguese owners hand a fifth of their credits to a national guarantee pool covering fire and drought losses, or a tenth in priority areas, unless they insure privately. By contrast, an owner found to have deliberately lost stored carbon must cancel twice the number of credits involved, under the 2024 decree-law that established the market.
“Carbon credits cannot be used or claimed for the purpose of meeting European or international obligations,” the decree-law states. That keeps them out of the European Union’s emissions trading system, with buyers instead cancelling them to offset their own emissions or to contribute to climate action.
One of the two registered projects is an 18.83-hectare planting at Sabugal, in the Guarda district, run by forestry company Grupo Sylvestris and the Repsol Foundation. The ministry has 977 credits available for sale, with 10 qualified verifiers on hand for initial project validation and periodic checks.
“Portugal was one of the first European countries to move ahead with the voluntary carbon market,” said Ana Paula Rodrigues, vice-president of ADENE, the energy agency running the registry. She said the price per credit is always agreed upon by the project’s promoter and its buyer.
Carvalho said the market “is gaining scale and maturity,” with her ministry “already working on new approaches to value blue carbon and seagrasses” now that the forest methods are in place. Meanwhile, ADENE is surveying would-be buyers on how many Portuguese credits they want and what would lead them to buy.
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