Earlier this fall, a commentary in Nature Communications, Earth & Environment argued for a change to the implementation of the Paris Agreement’s reporting mechanisms. The authors called for all countries to report carbon emissions and removals taking place across their entire territories, not just within so-called “managed” lands (as is presently the case). However, this poses a challenge here in Canada, as there is deep uncertainty about the total carbon flux in Canada’s “unmanaged” land. I echo calls for the Government of Canada to scale up and improve its greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring and modelling across Canada’s entire territory, and to report these findings in a much more open and transparent manner as part of its annual National GHG Inventory. …It is essential that the Government of Canada enhance its current efforts in land-based carbon flux analysis, and report to the public in a more clear and transparent way.
DUBAI, UAE – Since 2021, Canada and the United States (US) have closely partnered on climate and environmental action, generating positive opportunities for both countries through bilateral collaboration. Today at COP28, both countries commit to renew and accelerate their joint efforts to combat the climate crisis and to increase economic benefits from collaboration. The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, welcome the renewed Canada–United States commitment on climate ambition, released in a 
The Wood Pellet Association of Canada has updated its website to reflect our continued growth and evolution. Pellets have become mainstream around the world and are making a difference in our green energy future here at home, and our story has never been more important to tell. In just a decade, our sector has become one of the largest pellet producers in the world, supplying customers domestically and globally with quality pellets that support a low-carbon economy. Our new website is a key tool to help WPAC and its members share their commitment to supplying the world with responsible and renewable clean energy. The website’s modernization brings improved functionality so it’s easier for you to access the 
OTTAWA, ON — Today, the Government of Canada published the first Progress Report on the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (2030 ERP). Coinciding with the publication of the Oil and Gas Emissions Cap framework, today’s publication is timely, as Canada participates in the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), where the world is focusing on how to implement ambitious climate action. …In 2015, 
The Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023 includes a variety of tax measures that were introduced in Parliament on November 30, 2023, as 
As wildfires burned a record 18.5 million hectares across Canada this year, greenhouse gas emissions from those fires also soared to record heights, with preliminary estimates indicating they could be double or even triple the emissions from industrial activity. But when Ottawa releases its annual update on GHGs in 2024, those wildfire emissions won’t be part of the tally. In keeping with international reporting guidelines, Canada’s yearly National Inventory Report highlights human-caused, or anthropogenic, emissions rather than natural disturbances, such as insect outbreaks or wildfires. Wildfire emissions are included in that report, but as an information item, not part of the tally Canada presents when tracking its progress in reducing emissions. But the magnitude of this year’s wildfire emissions – and growing evidence of how climate change and wildfires are connected – is resulting in calls for more transparency in how they are reported and urgent action to try to keep them in check.
Keeping warm during winter will have a lower effect on air quality in B.C. as more incentives and education on replacing wood stoves with cleaner, healthier heating options roll out. “Burning wood is one of the largest air-pollution sources affecting B.C. communities, and switching to healthier, clean-heat sources can save people money by heating homes more effectively,” said George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. “By increasing the amount available for rebates, we’re helping more people breathe healthier air in their homes and in their communities.” In partnership with the BC Lung Foundation, the Government of B.C. will provide approximately $240,000 in rebates in 2024 through the Community Wood Smoke Reduction Program. …“It is important that more people understand the health risks involved with wood-burning stoves,” said Christopher Lam, CEO, BC Lung Foundation. 
The Forest Enhancement Society of BC is funding 61 projects in communities throughout BC in 2023 that include 19 projects, announced November 30, which are supported by funding from the Province of British Columbia. These projects will reduce wildfire risk, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and provide recovered fibre to mills and bioenergy facilities. “Improving utilization of wood fibre is a win for people and our forests,” emphasizes Gordon Murray, Executive Director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada. “These projects support the conversion of what was once considered waste into wood pellets, creating jobs, heating and powering Canadian homes and businesses, reducing wildfire risk, and contributing to global climate goals by displacing fossil fuels and advancing new technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.” Wood pellets play a key role in helping communities create robust, sustainable economies while addressing the challenges of balancing economic development with conservation and community values, with safety at the forefront. 
The US alone could remove 1 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere annually by midcentury using existing technologies. Forests, soil and manmade solutions in their early stages of development could help get the US to net zero, according to a report by 
For decades, scientists have used the space-for-time substitution to predict how a species will fare in climate change. But according to new research, that method might be producing results that are misleading or wrong. University of Arizona researchers found the method failed to accurately predict how ponderosa pine has responded to the last several decades of warming. 
Keeping the world’s remaining forests standing is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century. …In the race to create incentives to preserve forests rather than cut them down, the carbon-offsetting market has taken centre stage. Scientific research and journalistic investigations, however, indicate that many of these schemes are essentially “hot air” and failing to protect forests as promised. As some major firms reassess their use of forest credits, it raises questions about how we pay for and incentivise the protection of these crucial ecosystems. Here are five ways that experts have suggested we could tip the balance in favour of keeping forest ecosystems alive:
The UK government recognises the importance of waste wood biomass and is considering transitional support for the sector after the Renewables Obligation Certificate (ROC) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) subsidies end, according to Energy Minister Graham Stuart. Stuart’s comments came in his recent response to a letter sent by the Wood Recyclers’ Association to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. In the letter, WRA chair Richard Coulson asked for urgent clarity over future support for waste wood biomass, given that the ROC and RHI subsidies all end by 2038, the earliest being in the mid 2020s. Stuart’s response, dated 20 November, said: “The government recognises the important role of sustainable biomass, including waste wood biomass, in achieving the UK’s net zero targets, and in balancing the energy grid/ensuring security of supply.”
Bioenergy has been in the headlines, especially regarding the reform of the EU’s rules for how burning forest wood qualifies as “renewable energy.” It’s always been far-fetched to rely on burning trees — which emit more CO2 than coal when burned and take decades to regrow — as a way to “reduce” emissions. But climate policy could be about to go further off-track with a new focus on biomass energy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS, as a way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere (in climate-speak, achieve “negative emissions”). …BECCS is a prime example of how to waste money on a hopeless technology. The idea is to take CO2 emissions from burning biomass — mostly derived from forests — concentrate it, and pump it belowground into geological formations. …In fact, promoting the logging of more forests will possibly increase CO2 emissions, because logging causes forest ecosystems to leak carbon.
For all the focus on technology to combat climate change, we have no greater ally than Mother Nature. In the closing days of the United Nations COP28 climate talks, conservation scientists stressed the importance of forests, grasslands, oceans and other ecosystems to absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “The science is clear. Conserving nature is absolutely essential if we are to reach global climate goals,” Campaign for Nature Director Brian O’Donnell said. …More than $2.5 billion in financing to protect and restore natural systems was mobilized, and officials strengthened an international agreement to protect biodiversity. However, a pair of reports released during the conference pointed out the wide disparities between the current efforts to protect natural systems and the economic pressures that destroy and degrade them. …The U.N. Environment Programme’s “State of Finance for Nature” report released Saturday at COP28 identified approximately $200 billion in total investments in nature-based solutions in 2022. 
At COP28, ecologist Thomas Crowther, former chief scientific adviser for the United Nations’ Trillion Trees Campaign, was doing something he never would have expected a few years ago: begging environmental ministers to stop planting so many trees. Mass plantations are not the environmental solution they’re purported to be, Crowther argued. The potential of newly created forests to draw down carbon is often overstated. They can be harmful to biodiversity. Above all, they are really damaging when used as 
Voluntary carbon markets have been at the forefront of allegations of greenwashing in recent years. …Carbon credits linked to forest initiatives have attracted particularly strong criticism recently, with companies accused of using these credits as offsets to avoid responsibility for reducing their own emissions. …As a result, confidence in the market has been shaken, choking off a potentially vital financial source for forest countries. To be clear, the problems with forest carbon markets that have hit the front pages are very real. But they aren’t the full story. …We shouldn’t gloss over bad practice. But we also shouldn’t overlook the years of work done by governments to ensure forest carbon transactions can be done with integrity. This includes the creation of the U.N.’s REDD+ framework for “reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation in developing countries.
