Responding to Climate Change

Actively growing, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and convert it to stored carbon in the tree. A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 concluded: “In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.”

In 2015, we partnered with the Universities of Alberta and British Columbia in northeastern British Columbia to investigate how soil fungi can improve the regeneration of lodgepole pine following disturbances like wildfire or mountain pine beetle. With climate change, these disturbances are predicted to increase in frequency and severity, which can negatively impact the health of pine seedlings. The research team will examine how soil fungi communities can bolster the health and growth of pine seedlings, thus benefiting the health of our forests.

The Paris Agreement, (COP 21), reached in late 2015, provides a foundation for global climate action. Canada was among major forest companies to issue a statement in advance of the UN climate change conference that recognized the essential role forests play in the long-term health of our planet. 

In 2016, we joined Canada’s forest products industry in its pledge to remove 30 megatonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2030 – more than the Canadian government’s emission target. The 30 by 30 Challenge, led by the Forest Products Association of Canada, includes improved forest management practices to maximize carbon storage, innovative products to replace materials made with fossil fuels, and increased efficiencies at mill sites.