Forests and Climate Change for Policymakers 101
Working Forests: Maximizing the Potential of a Natural Climate Solution
GROW
Capture & Convert
Growing trees capture carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into carbon within usable solid wood.
HARVEST
Store
Harvested trees made into wood products continue to store the carbon they captured as growing trees.
REPLANT
Renew & Capture
Forest owners plant millions of tree seedlings each year, renewing the cycle with vigorous young growth.
WORKING FORESTS ARE THE MOST POWERFUL CLEAN-AIR TECHNOLOGY ON EARTH
By providing a continuing cycle of planting, growing and harvesting, active forest management optimizes a forest’s ability to sequester and store carbon and improves resiliency, maintaining the ability to sequester carbon in the future.
At a landscape scale, managed forests are considered carbon sinks, meaning they reduce the net amount of CO2 in the atmosphere as they grow.
GROWING TREES IS WHAT WE DO
JUST THE FACTS:
- Forests in the United States currently sequester more than 14% of the nation’s annual industrial carbon emissions. With good policy there is potential to do even more.
- Climate mitigation strategies must prioritize keeping forests intact, which means supporting strong markets. Strong markets empower consumers to fight climate change every time they buy a forest product. Strong markets for forest products allow forest owners to re-invest in their forests, and help them resist economic pressure to convert their land to other uses that are less carbon beneficial.
- Forest owners are a part of a complex and interdependent supply chain. Policies must recognize the carbon value of the whole forest supply chain, including the forest.
BOTTOM LINE
OUR BUSINESS IS KEEPING FORESTS AS FORESTS.
WOOD + ACTIVE FOREST MANAGEMENT MAXIMIZES CARBON SEQUESTRATION.
JUST THE FACTS:
- Half of the dry weight of wood is carbon that was sucked out of the atmosphere by growing trees. Together, working forests and durable wood products such as buildings and furniture lock away massive amounts of carbon long-term.
- Forest products are natural, renewable, and biodegradable while many alternative products end up floating in our oceans or filling our landfills for hundreds of years.
- Wood and forest products can displace fossil fuel intensive materials with renewable forest products. Mass timber, for example, acts as a carbon vault, storing huge amounts of carbon in the built environment for generations and drastically reducing the carbon footprint of one of the world’s greatest sources of emissions.
BOTTOM LINE
USING SUSTAINABLE TREES FOR PRODUCTS IS A NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTION.
REPLANTING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS. (WITHOUT IT, WE HAVE NO BUSINESS.)
JUST THE FACTS:
- We plant more than a billion trees in the U.S. every year.
- USDA data shows that from 1953 to 2011– as the U.S. population expanded and demand for homes and wood products increased – the total volume of trees grown in the U.S. increased by 50%.
- Today, private forest owners are growing 43% more wood than they harvest.
BOTTOM LINE
FOREST OWNERS’ FUNDAMENTAL GOAL IS TO GROW, HARVEST, AND REPLANT HEALTHY TREES IN HEALTHY FORESTS OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
WOOD PRODUCTS ARE FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE
50% of the dry weight of a tree is carbon
What is one step you can take to combat climate change? Buy and use forest products that store carbon and support continued investment in our nationʼs sustainably managed working forests.
Carbon capture is one of the many environmental benefits that result from strong markets for forest products
Healthy Markets
Clean Air
Clean Water
Wildlife Habitat
WORKING FORESTS ARE A POWERFUL TOOL IN MEETING CLIMATE GOALS
Forests in the United States offset 12-15% of our emissions each year. With good policy, there is potential to do even more. As stewards of one of our most dependable emissions reduction technologies, we encourage policy leaders to integrate the following working forest principles into their climate mitigation strategies.
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PRIVATE WORKING FORESTS ARE A KEY COMPONENT OF ANY CLIMATE MITIGATION STRATEGY.
Carbon mitigation strategies that include forest owners, and encourage their participation are more likely to deliver the maximum emissions capture and storage potential of working forests. Sustainable forest management should be incentivized to encourage the sector to realize its full carbon potential.
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CARBON MITIGATION STRATEGIES SHOULD RECOGNIZE CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND STORAGE.
Working forests must be recognized for providing two critical climate mitigation benefits: carbon sequestration as trees grow and continued carbon storage in the wood products they become.
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FOREST OWNERS NEED CLARITY & SIMPLICITY TO PARTICIPATE.
Forest owner participation can deliver real carbon benefits at scale. For forest owners to participate, carbon mitigation policy needs to be clear and simple:
- outlining clear rules of engagement from the outset, including how forests will be measured or counted
- establishing streamlined procedures for reviewing and approving participating projects
- removing or addressing cost burdens that can act as a barrier for participation by a responsible business
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NAFO MEMBERS UNDERSTAND AND EMBRACE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF THE LAND.
We rely on well-established data, proven methods and third-party certification to ensure the sustainable management of our forests and the wide range of environmental, economic and social benefits they provide.
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