The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is to join forces with WWF-Canada in order to pursue industry-wide carbon neutrality by 2015.
Switching to energy efficient technologies, increasing the use of fossil fuels, increasing the sequestration potential of forests and timber products, supporting landfill capping and diverting wood products from landfill sites are key parts of the initiative.
FPAC added that the initiative will not use the purchase of carbon offset credits as a means to achieve its target.
“Canada’s forest products industry has already made significant strides in mitigating its impact on the climate and its next step is to be carbon-neutral,” said FPAC president and chief executive officer Avrim Lazar.
“The initiative we are announcing today has the potential to not only move the industry towards carbon-neutrality by 2015 but to go beyond, potentially removing more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than we emit. And, unlike other sectors that rely significantly on the purchase of offsets, we can get there without having to do so.”
FPAC and WWF-Canada have agreed an initial two-year project that will see them analyse areas where emissions savings can be made and produce guidelines and recommendations to maximise forest product use and greenhouse gas savings.
