Logging’s climate threat: Emissions now rival transportation

By Michael Polanyi, Nature Canada
The National Observer
September 25, 2024
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: Canada

With record wildfires ravaging much of Canada again this summer, the imperative to reduce GHG emissions grows. Oil companies have been rightly called out for their significant contribution. But another sector, which to date has been mischaracterized by government and industry as carbon-neutral, is also playing a major role in driving the climate crisis. A new report, 2024 Logging Emissions Update, release by Nature Canada, Nature Quebec, and Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), found that logging in Canada released 147 megatonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide in 2022 – one-fifth of Canada’s total reported emissions. …The finding that logging is a high-emitting sector runs counter to longstanding claims by both industry and governments that logging in Canada is “sustainable” and a low-carbon climate solution. …Still, Energy and Natural Resources Canada’s recent State of Canada’s Forests report claims that “sustainable forest management helps to mitigate climate change.”

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