ODOE to Release Draft Land-Based Net Carbon Inventory Report with Webinar, Comment Period
The Oregon Department of Energy will release a draft report for Oregon’s first Land-Based Net Carbon Inventory on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. ODOE will host a webinar from 1-3:30 p.m. on the same date and open a public comment period through Dec. 19, 2025.
During the webinar, ODOE's Natural Climate Solutions team will share information about the land-based net carbon inventory. The report represents a critical step toward accounting for the nature-based climate mitigation work occurring in the state to help address the climate crisis.
In 2023, the Oregon legislature passed House Bill 3409, a package of laws on climate and natural climate solutions. It defined natural and working lands, and directed the Oregon Climate Action Commission, ODOE, and seven land managing agencies to establish an accounting system fundamental for tracking greenhouse gases in Oregon’s landscape. The land-based inventory that accounts for greenhouse gas emissions and carbon removals across Oregon’s lands over time is the subject of the report and this webinar.
Webinar Details:
Friday, Dec. 5, 2025 | 1-3:30 p.m.
Information on how to join the webinar will be available on the Natural Climate Solutions webpage. Webinar attendees can ask questions about the inventory. For those unable to attend, a recording of the webinar will be posted soon after the meeting.
Public Comment Opportunity:
The draft report will be posted to the Natural Climate Solutions webpage on Dec. 5. Once available, the public is invited to share feedback on the draftdraft by email through Dec. 19.
Feedback will inform the final Land-Based Net Carbon Inventory, which will be submitted to Governor Kotek and the Oregon Legislature by Dec. 31, 2025.
Additional Background:
Oregon’s lands release carbon into, and sequester carbon from, the atmosphere. They have a carbon balance, or a net carbon flux, calculated from the amounts of GHGs they emit and sequester. Land produces emissions through natural processes (e.g., methane produced by decaying plants in wetlands) or anthropogenic processes (e.g., carbon dioxide produced by human-caused wildfires). To understand trends and progress toward meeting land-based sequestration and storage goals, and to measure success of investment in land-based strategies, it is necessary to establish an inventory (distinguished from the “sector-based” greenhouse gas inventory, which measures emissions produced within Oregon by economic sector). With this inventory, Oregon can take action to reduce or avoid land-based emissions and to accelerate the pace and scale of actions that protect stores and increase natural sequestration.
This initial inventory will establish a baseline for carbon in specific pools and establish rates of emissions and sequestration in Oregon’s ecosystems. It will provide the state, decision-makers, and the public a better understanding of the effects of recent changes to Oregon’s land on its GHG emissions and removals. Over time, updates to the Inventory will provide trend information on emissions and removals from the land, giving the state information about the effects of land use and land management at a landscape scale that is critical to meeting the state’s climate goals. The inventory is designed to be updated and improved over time as more information and data becomes available.