Media Room News and UpdatesPress ReleasesBackgroundersReports/MaterialsAdvertismentsMultimedia

The Tyee Hook -- Province to buy carbon offsets that other firms won't touch

by Colleen Kimmett, http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Labour-Industry/2010/04/16/CarbonOffsets/
April 16th, 2010

The crown corporation that buys carbon offsets for the province issued a call for projects this week that are already standard practice in the forest industry – leading some to question whether they should count as offsets at all.

On Wednesday, Pacific Carbon Trust (PAC) issued a $3 million call for forest-based offset projects in three areas: afforestation, seed selection and fertilization.

Marvin Eng of the B.C. Forest Practices Board, said the forest industry and ministry do fertilize, and that fertilization has been increasing, particularly in the interior, over the past couple of years. Eng said that while, 'class A' or superior quality seeds are not required, they are often selected as part of companies' operational practices "because you get better volume out of them. Whether or not it's carbon or timber volume."

Offering offsets for 'business as usual' is a waste of money, said Valerie Langer of ForestEthics.

Read the full article >>

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ForestEthics is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of environmental and social issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.