Carbon Budgeting

Models for calculating a forest carbon budget are allowing forest professionals to determine when a specific forest is expected to be a net carbon source or sink over the period normally used for wood-supply forecasts.

Canfor’s carbon strategy is to maintain some old growth on the land base for carbon storage, reforest harvested areas promptly for carbon uptake, and reduce conversion by minimizing permanent access roads. We continue to monitor developments in carbon sequestration modeling both at the provincial and regional level, and use this in our management planning.

Products or processes are carbon neutral if they do not add incremental carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Forest biomass used in pulp or wood production is generally considered carbon neutral because it absorbs carbon dioxide by photosynthesis while the tree is growing, and when it decomposes or is burned – either directly or after conversion to a biofuel such as black liquor – it releases the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere where it re-enters the natural biogenic cycle.