GATINEAU, QC, May 6, 2024
/CNW/ - Nature-based climate solutions play a key role in the fight
against climate change, and the careful stewardship of Canadian
forests is a vital example. Sustainable forest practices promote
carbon storage, conserve biodiversity, and ensure resilient forest
ecosystems.
Environment and Climate Change Canada continues to support
sustainable forest practices with the third federal offset protocol
for use under Canada's Greenhouse
Gas Offset Credit System—Improved Forest Management on Private
Land.
Forest ecosystems remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and
convert it into biomass in living trees, dead organic matter, and
forest soil—a process called biological carbon sequestration.
Actions that increase carbon stored and avoid carbon loss in
managed forests can reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere—this has a lasting impact in the fight against
climate change.
This new protocol gives project developers a financial incentive
to implement voluntary forest management practices that will
increase the amount of carbon stored in forestlands and earn
revenue for those projects. Foresters, Indigenous communities, and
other project developers can earn credits under this protocol by
minimizing site degradation, thinning diseased trees, increasing
rotation age, and doing other activities that maintain or enhance
carbon storage.
Indigenous peoples in Canada
have a long history of environmental stewardship. This protocol
will not only help fight climate change by incentivizing
forest-based emissions reduction projects but will also create
economic opportunities for Indigenous communities who have been
taking climate action.
Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System is among several measures that the government is
taking to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45
percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and it delivers on a commitment
in Canada's 2030 Emissions
Reduction Plan. This protocol joins the existing suite of
protocols under the system, which include Landfill Methane
Recovery and Destruction and Reducing Greenhouse Gas
Emissions from Refrigeration Systems.
While this protocol is not applicable to projects on provincial
or federal Crown lands (excluding First Nation reserves) and public
land in the territories, Environment and Climate Change Canada will
begin developing a protocol for Improved Forest Management on
Public Land in 2024.
For more information on the Improved Forest Management
on Private Land federal offset protocol and how to submit
an application to register an offset project, please visit
Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System webpage.
Quotes
"Canada's forests stand tall,
not only as key components of global biodiversity, but also as a
crucial pillar in reducing greenhouse gases. The new protocol
announced today under Canada's
Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System aligns environmental
stewardship with economic opportunities. By empowering projects
that enhance forest capacity to store carbon, we are sowing the
seeds for a greener future that preserves our natural heritage and
unlocks economic benefits for participants, including forest
landowners and Indigenous communities."
– The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of
Environment and Climate Change
"Canada is rich in forest
resources and a world leader in sustainable forest management.
There are 25 million hectares of forests privately owned across
Canada, representing seven percent
of Canada's managed forests. As
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, I am pleased that
Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System now offers an additional incentive to the country's
450,000 forest landowners to improve carbon storage in forests and
support sustainable forestry for the benefit of all Canadians."
– The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and
Natural Resources
"This new federal offset protocol strikes the right balance to
incentivize the sustainable management of forests through improved
forest management techniques, while at the same time ensuring that
the carbon sequestration capacity of this critical resource is
maintained and enhanced over the long term. We are also very
encouraged to see this protocol framed in such a way as to strongly
support both the climate and ecological benefits of conservation
efforts in Canada, including
strong support for Indigenous-led projects. The Nature Conservancy
of Canada looks forward to
supporting this program and Canada's conservation targets through our
ongoing work to preserve biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem
services in Canada."
– Rob Wilson, Director,
Conservation Finance, Nature Conservancy of Canada
"Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation is pleased with the new protocol, as
it provides my Nation with an opportunity to help Mother Earth
while selling offset credits from my Nation's impending Forest
Carbon Sequestration Project. Our Project will generate revenue to
support the social and economic well-being of my people. Of special
importance to the people, our Project will support management of
the Nation's forests for traditional use, protect species like
moose and species at risk like the Woodland Caribou and the Canada
Warbler, and protect our special and spiritual places. Our Project
will help Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation to maintain our culture."
– Chief Elwood Zastre, Wuskwi
Sipihk First Nation
Quick facts
- Well-managed forests can play a crucial role in mitigating
climate change by acting as carbon sinks. Through the process of
biological carbon sequestration, forests remove carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere and convert it into new growth and healthy soil.
Forest management can be improved to enhance carbon sequestration
through improved tree growth, more sustainable harvest, and faster
and healthier regeneration.
- Forest management can also be improved to reduce the risks of
forest fires—wildfires cause greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol
requires risk management plans for reversals of greenhouse gas
reductions, meaning that improved forest management projects can
reduce the risk of natural disturbances, such as wildfires, pests,
and diseases.
- The money the forest landowner earns from selling offset
credits can be put toward the costs of implementing the project and
maintaining the forest over time. This provides a financial
incentive to continue managing the forest in a sustainable
way.
- Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System provides an incentive for businesses, municipalities,
Indigenous communities, forest landowners, farmers, and other
project developers in sectors such as waste, forestry, agriculture,
and advanced technology to take on projects that reduce the
greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
- To be eligible to earn credits, offset project activities must
achieve greenhouse gas reductions that are real, additional,
quantified, verified, unique, and permanent. For example, the
greenhouse gas emissions reductions or removals generated from
projects under the federal offset system must go beyond legal
requirements and business-as-usual practices and must not already
be incentivized by carbon pollution pricing.
- Each federal offset credit represents one tonne of carbon
dioxide equivalent (CO2e) reduced or removed from the atmosphere.
Credits will only be issued and become available for use after the
project has been implemented and proponents have submitted their
first project reports, and if all requirements for offset credit
issuance are met.
- Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System creates economic opportunities for Indigenous
communities and encourages the development of Indigenous-led,
nature-based solutions to climate change. A Greenhouse Gas Offset
Toolkit is available in several languages, including Ojibwe,
Mi'kmaq, and Woods Cree.
Related products
- Federal Offset Protocol on Improved Forest Management
on Private Land
Associated links
- Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System
- 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan: Clean Air, Strong Economy
- 2023 Progress Report on the 2030 Emissions Reduction
Plan
- Canada's Greenhouse Gas Offset
Credit System Public Registry
- Greenhouse Gas Offset Toolkit
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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada