Green Horizons

The CVal spreadsheet is a powerful tool that can help foresters, managers and project developers work with private forest landowners to assess the economic profitability of participating in carbon markets.

CVal provides a discounted cash flow analysis based on a full accounting of variables, including tract size, carbon sequestration rate, carbon price and enrollment and trading costs. Automated, financial break-even analyses in the macros version quickly assess threshold values of key variables for profitable projects and the program readily performs “what if” calculations after storing starting values.

CVal was designed to evaluate managed forest and afforestation projects traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange, but its methodology could be adapted for other trading mechanisms and agricultural sequestration projects. Documentation is provided in the program itself and in GTR-180.

CVal was developed by Ted Bilek (USFS Forest Products Lab), Peter Becker (Eastern Ozarks Forestry Council), and Tim McAbee (LandMark Systems, formerly of Clearwater Forest Consultants, LLC), and is available at no cost. The spreadsheets and accompanying manual can be downloaded at: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fpl_gtr180. html