Vermont Forest Carbon Inventory

Forests play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere and storing the carbon in trees, both living and dead, as well as in the soil. Climate change is driven by atmospheric CO₂ levels, for which the balance between carbon sequestration and emissions is key. When sequestration exceeds emissions, additional carbon is withheld from the atmosphere and storage within forests increases; when emissions surpass sequestration, carbon is lost from the land and released back into the atmosphere. The Vermont Forest Carbon Inventory aims to communicate and monitor the carbon benefits of Vermont’s forest sector. This inventory incorporates carbon stored in forests, as well as carbon gains and losses across the forest sector—including sequestration by existing forests, urban trees, newly established forest land, and harvested wood products in use and in landfills, alongside emissions from when a forest is converted to another type of land use, such as development or agriculture. Emissions from harvested wood products in the form of bioenergy and decay are accounted for in existing forests (see Key Information for more details). The forestland-based estimates in this inventory are based on data from the U.S. Forest Service which follows guidelines established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Agency of Natural Resources Vermont Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Forecast is the official accounting source for statewide fluxes, including those from the land use sector.