The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage

This working paper examines the value of temporary carbon storage and its impact on greenhouse gas accounting and biological offsets, utilizing social cost of carbon estimates from a 2010 U.S. government interagency working group.

• The paper analyzes how the value of temporary carbon storage influences policy design in areas such as physical carbon discounting in greenhouse gas accounting, the value of impermanent mitigation efforts like deferred deforestation, and the relative value of temporary carbon offsets.
• The analysis indicates that physical carbon discount rates for carbon accounting might be lower than the social discount rates typically employed in intergenerational analyses.
• Using social cost of carbon estimates to define equivalence between permanent and temporary agricultural offsets results in equivalence ratios ranging from approximately 2 to 30, contingent upon the length of the temporary offset contract period and the discount rate applied.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage. https://www.wri.org/research/time-value-carbon-and-carbon-storage

Chicago

World Resources Institute. The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/time-value-carbon-and-carbon-storage.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage |url=https://www.wri.org/research/time-value-carbon-and-carbon-storage |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtime, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{The Time Value of Carbon and Carbon Storage}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/time-value-carbon-and-carbon-storage}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }