Summary report, presentations and exercises from SIANI/FAO Workshop: “Discover new Opportunities with the Ex-Ante Carbon Balance Tool” 7-8 December 2011, Stockholm Main workshop objectives: Presenting the tool and spreading its usage Assessing the needs/demand related to CC mitigation for further development of the tool Building partnerships The Ex-Act tool: The tool is a multi-functional software. Ex-Act has the capability to perform, amongst others, Carbon Footprint Analysis, illustrating which agricultural and forestry activities are CO2 emitters or Carbon sinks. The results can be used to measure and manage environmental impact and for communication purposes.

1. EX-Ante Carbon-balance Tool
By Louis Bockel, Madeleine Jönsson, Ophélie Touchemoulin, FAO (TCSP)
3-4 October 2011

2. SUMMARY
 Why the development of EX-ACT
 A partnership
 The need of a new simple tool
 Presentation of the tool
 Role of the tool
The structure and logic of the tool
Outputs

3. Why the development of EX-ACT?

4. A partnership
Partnership
FAO
Investment Centre TCI
Policy support service TCS
Economic division ESA
IRD (French Development
Research Institute)
WB
GIZ, IFAD, AFD (France), ADB, SEI
(Sweden), ADEME (France)
 EX-ACT is a FAO tool to estimate the mitigation impact of
agricultural and forestry projects
External partnership
 and helps decision-making within agriculture and forestry
planning policies and investment projects

5. The need of a new simple tool
Lack of tools that would help project designers to integrate significant climate
response activities in AFOLU* sectors.
Lack of operational tools
Tools under UNFCCC/KP
Tool
=
Flowchart
+
Equations
+
Default values
*AFOLU: agriculture, forestry and land use

6. The need of a new simple tool
Lack of tools screening the whole agricultural sector

7. The need of a new simple tool
Need for an acceptable method which:
measures C-balance impact within ex-ante appraisal,
complements usual economic analysis,
and fits within the time constraints of formulation process.
Simple
Practical
Cost effective
Upgradable
overtime
Information that :
-scientists can quantify/use,
-farmers/project developers
can understand/use
Up-scaling
(Able to extrapolate to region,
watershed and community
basis)

8. Appraisal of agricultural
project/programmes
Carbon balance with a
reference scenario
Mitigation impacts of
policies and value chains
Regular up-dating
Easy to use and implement
International application
Mitigation non integrated
within project
formulation
Lack of climate impact
decision-making tools
Enriching usual economic
analysis with a new
indicator
Adapting to project
formulation constraints
Legitimity of
a new tool
The need of a new simple tool

9. Presentation of the tool

10. The Role of EX-ACT
Takes into account activities
that impact GHG fluxes (emissions and sinks)
Deforestation, A-Re/forestation, forest degradation, Restoration of grasslands, livestock, cultivation of annual
crops, cultivation of perennial crops, fertilization of crops, installation of building, installation of irrigation systems...
CO2, CH4, N2O
from and to different pools
above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, soil, litter and dead wood
EMISSIONS  STOCKS 
Positive result : There are more emissions 
Negative result: There are less emissions 
MITIGATION !
Carbon balance in t of eq-CO2

11. The carbon balance, for a specific project (or scenario of action) in comparison with
a reference, should be considered as the net balance of all GHG emissions
expressed in CO2 equivalent (sources and sinks) with the atmosphere interface and
the net change in C stocks (biomass, soil…).
Future without project
100 ha flooded rice
100 ha degraded pastures
100 animals
Future with project
100 ha improved irrig. rice
100 ha restored pastures
100 High productivity animals
?
more or less
GHG released
?
The Role of EX-ACT

12. The structure and the logic of EX-ACT
Project activities
(identification of expected
land use and practices changes)
Project
Description
Carbon balance
Climate
Continent
Soil
Duration
Deforestation
Afforestation and Reforestation
Forest degradation
Non forest land use change
Annual crops
Perennial crops
Irrigated rice
Grasslands
Exploitation of organic soils
Livestock
Inputs
Other investments
Matrix
(Synthesis of land
use and land
use changes)
-Describe vegetation/animals/inputs
concerned
-Describe main management practices
-Area concerned
EXCEL File
-Start situation
-Future without project
-Future with project
I
N
P
U
T
S
N
E
E
D
E
D
Tier 1:
IPCC coefficients
Tier 2 : ad-hoc
Land-based system
Mainly IPCC
methodology 2006

13. The structure and the logic of EX-ACT
Time (years)
Implementation phase
With project
Without project
Capitalization phase
Difference used to compute the final C balance
in tons CO2 equivalent
Variableconsidered
(haoflanduse,numberofcattleheads,…)
x0
x1
x2
3 different dynamics of change
(adoption) of practices
Benefits of the
project

14. The structure and the logic of EX-ACT
AbsoluteChange
(x1-x0)
t0 t1
“Immediate” “Linear” “Exponential”
t0 t1 t0 t1
Time
(years)
Default option
in Tier 1
3 different dynamics of change (adoption) of practice

15. The structure and the logic of EX-ACT: Main kind of data/information
needed
-Different areas of land uses and land use changes in ha
-Management practices (residue burning, improved agronomic practice, nutrient management,
organic management, tillage management)
-Quantities of inputs used
-For livestock, evolution of herd
- Energy consumption
- Investments in infrastructure
Activities foreseen
… that may impact on mitigation (GHG reduction/releases)
What is the current
situation ?
What would happen in
the future if the project
is not implemented ?
What is expected in the
future if the project is
implemented ?

16. • It computes the C balance with and without the project. The difference
represents the benefits of the project and indicates the net amount of
C sequestered (C sink) as a result of the project.
• It illustrates weather the project is able to supply environmental
services in the form of C sequestration, thus contributing to climate
change (CC) mitigation.
• Outputs could be used in financial and economic analysis of the
project, guiding the project design process and the decision making on
funding aspects
• EX-ACT could therefore help project designers to select the project
activities which have higher benefits both in economic and CC
mitigation terms (added value of the project)
• Put forward the multiple benefit of carbon as public good :
Value to farmer, Value to community, Value to society
Outputs of the tool

17. 24/06/2010
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Project Summary Area (Initial state in ha)
Name Forest/Plantation 35000
Annual 12400 Implementation 10
Continent Africa Cropland Perennial 0 Capitalisation 10
Rice 21800 Total 20
Climate Tropical Moist Grassland 40000
Other LandDegraded 28750
Dominante Soil TypeHAC Soils Other 0 Total Area 137950
N2O CH4 Per phase of the project
Biomass Soil Implement. Capital. Total Implement. Capital.
-628907 this is a sink -357207 -271700 0 0 -447773 -181133 -31445 -44777 -18113
-989278 this is a sink -719813 -269466 0 0 -344334 -644944 -49464 -34433 -64494
-188444 this is a sink -8800 -179644 0 0 -68681 -119763 -9422 -6868 -11976
-277879 this is a sink 0 -161220 -32290 -84370 -92626 -185253 -13894 -9263 -18525
-183225 this is a sink -167475 -15750 0 0 -57225 -126000 -9161 -5723 -12600
-48612 this is a sink 0 0 0 -48612 -16204 -32408 -2431 -1620 -3241
-146396 this is a sink 0 -146396 0 0 -48799 -97598 -7320 -4880 -9760
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
91148 this is a source 28358 --- 25980 65168 4557 2598 6517
1463 this is a source --- --- 1463 0 73 146 0
Final Balance -2370130 It is a sink -1189041 -1044176 -3931 -132981 -1048200 -1321930 -118506 -104820 -132193
Result per ha -17.2 -8.6 -7.6 0.0 -1.0 -7.6 -9.6 -0.9 -0.8 -1.0
Components of the Project
Other GHG Emissions
Livestock
Inputs
Deforestation
Afforestation and Reforestation
Other Land Use Change
Agriculture
Project Investment
Annual Crops
Agroforestry/Perennial Crops
Rice
Grassland
1463
All GHG in tCO2eq
Balance (Project - Baseline)
Duration of the
Project (years)
Mean per year
CO2 (other)
---
62790
CO2
-1000000
-800000
-600000
-400000
-200000
0
200000
Deforestation Afforestation and
Reforestation
Other Land Use
Change
Annual Crops Agroforestry/Perennial
Crops
Rice Grassland Livestock Inputs Project Investment
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