Weyerhaeuser Company and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) recently nnounced a multiyear collaboration to further the scientific understanding of how forests and forest products contribute to climate mitigation. The joint effort brings together one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands with one of the world's largest conservation organizations to increase the positive impact of forests in mitigating climate change.
TNC pioneered research quantifying nature's full ability to absorb and store carbon and provide a scalable and readily available opportunity to mitigate climate change. These natural climate solutions can help protect, better manage and restore forests and other ecosystems to reduce or absorb 11 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases per year — up to one-third of what's needed by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Over 1 billion metric tons of that potential could come from improved management of working forests.
"Working forests are one of the most readily available opportunities we have right now for scaling the global response to climate change," says Ara Erickson, vice president of corporate sustainability at Weyerhaeuser. "We're excited to be supporting TNC's important work and look forward to collaborating on science-based initiatives that increase the contributions of forests as natural climate solutions, while also benefitting the environment and the people and communities who rely on these ecosystems."
Over the next several years, Weyerhaeuser and TNC will collaborate on forest research; implement standards and frameworks for greenhouse gas accounting; support the development of improved carbon project methodologies; and help shape strategies that accelerate the adoption of climate-smart forestry practices worldwide, including expansion and refinement of existing forest-based climate solutions, and developing new programs that incorporate a wider set of potential practices, geographies and forest types.
"Businesses are essential stakeholders in creating a sustainable future, and collaborations such as the one we're embarking on with Weyerhaeuser provide important opportunities to expand research possibilities and accelerate scientific progress," says Peter Ellis, global director of NCS science at TNC. "We're optimistic that our work together can be an example of how different stakeholders can come together to identify best practices, harness evolving solutions and protect the natural world."
Both Weyerhaeuser and TNC believe climate commitments are necessary to mobilize support for natural climate solutions, and that market approaches can help unlock the potential of managed forests to sequester more carbon, boost private-sector investment in rural communities and help keep forests as forests. To that end, a shared goal is to grow support for a trusted and transparent carbon market, built around high-quality greenhouse gas accounting and high-integrity forest carbon projects using rigorous, scientific methodologies. The collaboration additionally seeks to elevate research into climate-smart forestry practices and the carbon storage potential of forests with diverse tree species.