Carbon Data

Building on a foundational understanding of forest carbon accounting, this course examines the types and origins of data associated with forest carbon projects. Data types include landscape characteristics: what’s there and how it’s used, using societal data (sociocultural, socioeconomic, governance, land use and carbon rights) to contextualize how and why it’s used, and the measurements and calculations required to estimate carbon stocks. The course goes on to explore how these data are used, including mapping landscapes and monitoring landscape-level change, identifying, and mitigating negative social and environmental impacts, and using carbon stocks to model CO2e emissions under different scenarios. The course highlights pertinent resources for acquiring, working with, and applying all data types. The primary learning and competency outcome is understanding where data related to forest carbon originates and how each type can be used as critical inputs in forest carbon projects.