Is Ottawa being deceptive about the carbon emissions from logging? Critics say yes

“We have to stop pretending that we’re getting ahead on climate change by using industrial logging,” said Jay Ritchlin, nature director at the David Suzuki Foundation, and a signatory of the letter. “There needs to be revision of the way we count the carbon emissions from forestry.”

The letter, obtained by the Star, raises concerns that Canada neither reports nor has a plan to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by logging.

“This is in contrast to other large economic sectors, whose emissions are clearly reported,” the letter reads. “Canada will not meet its 2030 climate and nature commitments unless all economic sectors take action to reduce GHG emissions.”

The government does not produce a simple number for the emissions from logging in its official accounting of GHG emissions. Unlike most industries, emissions from forestry are grouped together in a “land use” category that accounts for the natural carbon sequestering performed by trees as well as the results of human activity: the emissions produced by logging, and the release of sequestered carbon by burning wood or allowing it to rot.

Counting in this way lets the logging industry take credit for the carbon sequestration performed by trees that regrew naturally after forest fires without any human intervention. The result is that forestry, according to the government, sequesters more carbon than it emits.

“It’s just not true and it’s distracting from the real emissions reductions that we need from fossil fuels and the protections we need for forests and biodiversity,” said Ritchlin.

Nature Canada and the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) combed through the government’s carbon accounting to piece together the real emissions caused by logging. They subtracted the sequestrations in long-lived wood products like furniture and construction materials, but still, instead of being a carbon sink, logging produces more than 10 per cent of Canada’s total emissions, the Nature Canada/NRDC report concludes.

“This report really lays bare the scale of the issue we’re facing with forests,” said Tegan Hansen, senior forest campaigner at Stand.earth. “Primary and old-growth forests are our best defence and offence against climate change. These forests store incredible amounts of carbon in trees and soil and they also help protect communities from floods and slides, which are getting worse.

“When we look at these forests what we should be seeing is an ally in that fight and not just a resource to be exploited for wood products.”

The Forest Products Association of Canada, a logging industry group, put out a statement earlier this month calling the Nature/NRDC report “misleading and damaging.”

“Let’s be clear. Canada has a forest carbon problem that is caused by the worsening natural disturbance patterns we are seeing through drought, pest outbreaks, and catastrophic wildland fire,” said Derek Nighbor, the association’s president and CEO.

The solution, he said, is “more forestry — not less.

“This means increased timber harvests that value carbon and forest health — and the creation of new markets for low-grade wood fibre, including via thinning and residual biomass.”

This kind of messaging is exactly what the signatories are seeking to counter.

“We’re very concerned that some in industry and even in government are being overly optimistic that we can use nature to fix climate change,” said Ritchlin. “Nature is under huge stress. We’re not doing a good job of reporting on how we treat nature affects climate change. So when you start saying that you’ll get carbon credits for improving forestry, it becomes a perverse incentive: You’re starting to focus on the wrong things.”

Asked about the report at a climate conference in Ottawa last month, Wilkinson said that Canada follows international standards when accounting for carbon emitted and absorbed by forests.

After next week’s COP27 climate conference in Egypt, Canada will be hosting the next major international gathering on the environment — in Montreal in December. That biological diversity conference, called COP15, will shine a spotlight on Canada’s forestry practices.

“Canada needs to start being more honest,” said Hansen. “The government has made commitments to end deforestation, but it doesn’t consider most clear-cutting to be ‘deforestation.’”

“We need to see Canada stepping up with funding to work collaboratively with Indigenous nations on full scale protection efforts.”