Weyerhaeuser Joins Carbon-Market Alliance
Weyerhaeuser is teaming with The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, and with other corporations, in an alliance to conserve forests using carbon markets.
Weyerhaeuser is teaming with The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International, and with other corporations, in an alliance to conserve forests using carbon markets. The primary purpose of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) is to create a set of standards for evaluating projects that will help mitigate climate change, while benefiting local communities and protecting or restoring biodiversity.
"We were attracted to the CCBA because one result of its work is the conservation of forests that might otherwise be threatened," said Cassie Phillips, Weyerhaeuser's vice president of forest and product sustainability. "We already practice sustainable forestry on land we manage, oppose illegal logging worldwide, and don't import or sell products from endangered forests. Our support of CCBA is another way to promote responsible forest management."
Growing public concern about climate change has sparked recognition of forests as carbon "sinks" -- places that absorb and store carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere. But for governments, corporations and non-profit organizations to be willing to invest time and money in projects that protect forests as carbon sinks, the social and climate benefits need to be more readily quantifiable. Standards are needed to judge whether a project is environmentally sound and beneficial to the local community. Potential project investors need a reliable method to compare one project against another.
The CCBA was formed in 2003 to meet these needs. It has developed a set of standards to identify the best carbon sink projects in which to invest. The standards can be used to rate projects in three key areas: how much carbon they store, the benefit to plants and wildlife, and the social and economic benefits to local communities. The standards were completed this spring after a two year stakeholder process and were recently sanctioned by the reforestation agency within the Peoples Republic of China.
In addition to Weyerhaeuser, the members of the CCBA are Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Pelangi, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, British Petroleum, GFA Terra, Intel and SC Johnson.
"We were attracted to the CCBA because one result of its work is the conservation of forests that might otherwise be threatened," said Cassie Phillips, Weyerhaeuser's vice president of forest and product sustainability. "We already practice sustainable forestry on land we manage, oppose illegal logging worldwide, and don't import or sell products from endangered forests. Our support of CCBA is another way to promote responsible forest management."
Growing public concern about climate change has sparked recognition of forests as carbon "sinks" -- places that absorb and store carbon dioxide drawn from the atmosphere. But for governments, corporations and non-profit organizations to be willing to invest time and money in projects that protect forests as carbon sinks, the social and climate benefits need to be more readily quantifiable. Standards are needed to judge whether a project is environmentally sound and beneficial to the local community. Potential project investors need a reliable method to compare one project against another.
The CCBA was formed in 2003 to meet these needs. It has developed a set of standards to identify the best carbon sink projects in which to invest. The standards can be used to rate projects in three key areas: how much carbon they store, the benefit to plants and wildlife, and the social and economic benefits to local communities. The standards were completed this spring after a two year stakeholder process and were recently sanctioned by the reforestation agency within the Peoples Republic of China.
In addition to Weyerhaeuser, the members of the CCBA are Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Pelangi, the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, British Petroleum, GFA Terra, Intel and SC Johnson.
