Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Carbon Finance & Cattle Externalities In The Brazilian Amazon: Pricing Reforestation In Terms Of Restoration Ecology, Christian T. Hofer

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper evaluates land-use conflict between cattle pasture and tropical rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon and attempts to reconcile negative production externalities within the framework of carbon finance. Specifically, it analyzes the price per metric ton of CO2e that would make reforestation projects, in terms of restoration ecology, a viable land-use alternative. Regional information on opportunity, implementation, and transaction costs is used to develop a partial equilibrium cost-benefit analysis, in which carbon sequestration is the only benefit. Financing is employed through Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism and long-term certified emission reductions (lCERs) are the carbon financial instrument modeled. Results indicate that …