EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation is responsible for analysis of greenhouse gas mitigation and other proposals for the Agency, the Administration and Congress. The Forestry and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model with Greenhouse Gases (FASOM-GHG) is a dynamic partial equilibrium sectoral model used to simulate potential future impacts of polices on land use, GHG fluxes and commodity markets within the agricultural and forestry sectors. The principal model developers are Dr. Bruce McCarl, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University and collaborators at Oregon State, Research Triangle Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, US EPA, USDA and USDA-Forest Service.

In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review and the U.S. EPA Peer Review Handbook, EPA has undertaken a peer review of the model by a panel of external experts. The peer review was coordinated by Industrial Economics, Incorporated, of Cambridge, Mass. (IEc). IEc selected the panel of experts in forestry, agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions fluxes and/or economic modeling who conducted the review.

The panel found that FASOM-GHG is unique among currently available models because it has the ability to dynamically simulate potential land use shifts and the resulting GHG fluxes between the U.S. agriculture and forestry sectors in response to policies over time. As requested, the panel also made a number of suggestions for model and documentation improvement. The FASOM-GHG model development team prepared a detailed response to the peer review report addressing the findings and offering clarifications as well as planned model improvements. The final peer review document can be downloaded here and includes:

• EPA Cover Memo
• The IEc Peer Review Documentation Memorandum
• Report of the Peer Review Panel: “Forestry and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model with Greenhouse Gases (FASOM-GHG) for Climate Change Analysis”
• Response to Peer Review Panel prepared by the FASOM-GHG Model Development Team

Additional information on the FASOM-GHG model.

Return to the EPA Climate Economic Modeling web page.