Carbon Neutral Pledge

The Canadian forest products industry is committed to doing its part as the world continues to address climate change. In October 2007, FPAC announced that the industry would set a new bar for environmental responsibility and action on climate change: industry-wide carbon neutrality by 2015, without the purchase of carbon offset credits. Prior to this announcement, FPAC commissioned a report by the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement titled “The Greenhouse Gas and Carbon Profile of the Canadian Forest Products Industry,” making the Canadian forest industry the first in the world to assess its total carbon profile through the forest products value chain. The full text of the report (Special Report No. 07-09) is available at www.ncasi.org/.

To help achieve the forest products industry’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2015, FPAC continues to maintain an external advisory group of experts established when the initiative was announced. This group consists of representatives from the Canadian Forest Service, FPInnovations (Forintek and Paprican), the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, the Pembina Institute, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the University of Western Ontario Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, and the World Resources Institute. 

FPAC and WWF

FPAC has also partnered with WWF-Canada to use their collective resources and influence to effect positive change. FPAC and WWF-Canada have embarked on a two-year project to:

• Identify potential greenhouse gas savings from renewable energy, cogeneration, and other mitigation options.
• Enhance forestry-related lifecycle analysis.
• Work together on landscape-level and stand-level measures that are both carbon and conservation friendly.
• Develop recommendations and proposed guidelines for bio-energy production and wood product manufacturing to maximize forest product use and greenhouse gas savings and minimize impacts on biodiversity.
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CO2Neutral Alliance

As well, FPAC has initiated the CO2Neutral Alliance to encourage progressive action on climate change throughout the entire forest products value chain. Supported by WWF-Canada as an initiative within the industry’s overall carbon neutral program, and managed by an independent secretariat, the alliance will help businesses along the forest products value chain to reduce their carbon and greenhouse gas emissions and achieve recognition for their leadership. Specifically, the CO2Neutral Alliance will profile members’ carbon and greenhouse gas reduction activities based on three criteria:

1. Initiatives already under way and that will continue.
2. Initiatives that will be broadened and/or accelerated.
3. New initiatives that will be undertaken or adopted.

Click here to learn about wood waste diversion, a Carbon Neutral Alliance initiative.