This report, Selected GHG mitigation supply curves, looks at regional, national, and international mitigation supply curves in order to provide the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) with insight into how these mitigation supply curves could influence future market-clearing prices in carbon markets.

For organizations assessing the implications of a CO2-constrained world, the future cost of emissions (or the value of reductions) is critical to developing appropriate strategies. Mitigation supply curves are one component of estimating the future cost of emissions (or the value of reductions) in a carbon-constrained world.

How policymakers determine the eligibility of emission reductions from non-capped sectors (offset sectors) will have a significant impact on the available supply of reductions, and ultimately on the cost of achieving emission targets. Denying credit to projects that reduce emissions indirectly, for example, or reductions that may be more difficult to measure, could materially restrict the supply of reductions to the greenhouse gas (GHG) market.

This report highlights emission reduction measures believed to be available in various sectors based on a variety of studies and data sources.

Technologies like carbon capture and storage, ocean fertilization, and others still in development, could dramatically expand these curves as their practical potential is better understood. The supply curves shown in this report are intended to reflect ‘practical potential,’ namely achievable emissions reductions, as opposed to a more theoretical potential based purely on engineering or other considerations.

Read Selected GHG mitigation supply curves.