Wednesday, December 2, 2015
The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) is pleased that the United Nations Climate Change Conference now underway in Paris has designated as Forest Action Day to consider the contribution of forests and forest products to climate change solutions.
Prince Charles and others at the Paris meeting were talking about the vital role forests play in stabilizing the global climate by sequestering the carbon dioxide that causes climate change. With more than 9% of the world’s With more than 9% of the world’s forests, Canadian trees absorb tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide to the benefit of the entire planet.
“This vital role of storing carbon continues in products made from tree fibre,” says the President and CEO of FPAC, David Lindsay. “This includes traditional products such as paper but also innovative new products made from wood including car parts, green chemicals, and mass timber construction”. He added further. The net carbon benefit of building a 100,000 square foot building from wood is the equivalent of taking 1,410 cars off the road for a year.
Unlike the situation in many other countries, the deforestation rate in Canada is virtually zero, just 0.02% with any trees that are harvested regenerated by law. In 2013 alone, Canada’s managed forests absorbed 150 million tons of CO2 from the air, more than all of Canada’s emissions from cars and trucks in that same year. The Canadian forest products industry has also taken a leadership role with pulp and paper mills cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 65% since 1990, and the sector has pledged to be carbon neutral across the supply chain by the end of this year. Member companies of FPAC are also working with environmentalists under the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement to find ways to best adapt to climate change including world leading sustainable forest management and building resilience in Canadian forests based on science.
Tags: forest action day, forest product industry, FPAC, paris climate change summit
Comments: