Assessing the financial viability of meadow restoration-based carbon projects in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin, USA

Alec Bowman, Michael H. Taylor, Cody Reed, Brian Morra and Benjamin W. Sullivan

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2025, vol. 68, issue 9, 2070-2091

Abstract: Meadow restoration sequesters significant amounts of carbon (C). To date, no meadow-based restoration projects have been implemented as offset-generating commercial C projects. This article develops and parameterizes an economic model of meadow restoration-based C projects using belowground C data from meadow restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Great Basin in the western United States. Results suggest that some meadow restoration projects are likely to be financially viable as commercial C projects, while others are not, with financially-viable projects netting between $70,000 and $170,000 over a forty-year project life. Projects are more likely to be financially viable when offset prices are higher, implementation costs are lower, sequestration rates are higher, and a larger area of meadow is restored per length of treated stream channel. Results also indicate that all meadow restoration projects are socially efficient when sequestered carbon is valued at the social cost of C.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jenpmg:v:68:y:2025:i:9:p:2070-2091

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DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2024.2306956

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