Carbon sequestration efforts can help address climate change. Among the efforts championed by scientists and politicians, trees could be among the most significant.
With more than a century of experience and expertise in sustainable forestry, we see the many environmental benefits of trees and responsibly managed forests.
Our work with forest certification organizations and landowners has contributed to keeping the forests near our pulp and paper mills healthy and profitable. We source wood responsibly, with 41 percent of our wood deliveries in 2020 coming from third-party certified forests, and we are committed to keeping forests as forests by planting more trees to replace those that are used to produce paper and wood pulp.
Working with non-governmental organizations and landowners, we have developed sustainable forestry principles to ensure the continued health of forestlands. In addition to working with landowners, we put those principles in practice on the 310,000 hectares of forest that we own and 6.6 million hectares of forest that we manage in Quebec and Ontario, Canada.
This spring, employees at our Ashdown, Windsor and Dryden mills gave away seedlings to neighbors, family members and co-workers, promoting tree-planting and reforestation across the continent.
On the larger scale of today’s carbon sequestration efforts, U.S. legislators have gotten behind an initiative to add a trillion trees to the continental canopy.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, is the only forester serving in Congress.
He has proposed a Trillion Trees Act that would incentivize the planting of trees to capture carbon. Westerman calls his plan a pragmatic, proactive approach with many benefits. Many of his Congressional colleagues agree; the bill has 50 co-sponsors.
“Despite the marvels of modern technology, planting trees remains the largest, most cost-effective and most environmentally friendly method we have for sequestering carbon,” wrote Rep. Kay Granger of Texas in a recent op-ed. “Trees naturally remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, bark, and branches, all while filtering pollution and emitting pure oxygen.”
Another of the many carbon sequestration efforts that we support is the American Forest Foundation’s Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP). This initiative taps into the carbon storage potential of family-owned forestland while creating a new market and source of income for the families who dedicate time and effort to their forest management.
“Domtar has a long history of environmental stewardship, and we are inspired by this innovative approach that improves forest management and brings family forest owners into carbon markets,” says Paige Goff, vice president for sustainability. “We are proud to support the FFCP as it will protect and restore land upon which countless people, ecosystems and wildlife depend.”
Learn more about carbon sequestration efforts:
- Information on the Trillion Trees Act
- Domtar’s Sustainable Forestry Principles
