In B.C.,\u00a0greenhouse gasses from logging and forest management are reported but not counted as part of the province\u2019s total output of carbon emissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since 2004, the province\u2019s forestry sector flipped from a net carbon sink, so that by 2018, the industry released more than half the annual emissions currently being counted in the province, according to public data.<\/p>\n
A similar pattern has played out Canada, where logging and wildfires have combined to make forests a net source of carbon since 2001, according to the federal government.<\/p>\n
Federal audits have repeatedly found Canada has failed to accurately account for logging emissions, with one report from Nature Canada estimating the industry’s net emissions at 147 megatonnes in 2022. This figure would make the forestry sector the third-highest emitting industry in the Canadian economy.<\/p>\n
Gary Bull, a professor emeritus of forestry at the University of British Columbia, said the B.C. government has struggled to come up with a working forest carbon standard for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s good science behind the model they are using, but ecologists can only get you so far in terms of the business world,\u201d Bull said.<\/p>\n
From an economist\u2019s point of view, Bull said counting\u00a0carbon stored in a forest\u2019s trees and soil offers a chance for it to be\u00a0monetized\u00a0and sold as carbon credits in one of two kinds of markets.<\/p>\n
The first, known as compliance markets, are mandatory, established and regulated by governments or international bodies to meet specific, legally binding emission reduction targets. The\u00a0“cap-and-trade” systems \u2014 such as Canada’s industrial carbon price \u2014\u00a0set a limit on emissions for high-emitting industries, requiring them to hold a certain number of allowances, which they can either earn or purchase.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The voluntary market, on the other hand,\u00a0is driven by businesses and individuals who choose to offset their emissions for reasons like corporate social responsibility, brand reputation or personal values. It operates outside of legal mandates and is not subject to government regulation. Instead, credits are certified by independent third-party standards.<\/p>\n
When it comes to forests, the idea is to incentivize heavy emitting companies\u00a0to buy carbon credits so\u00a0forest managers can prioritize conservation alongside the value of timber.\u00a0The influx of of money ostensibly\u00a0allows forest managers to protect more watersheds and move away from clear-cut logging to more sustainable harvest systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t get to our emissions targets just with engineering solutions. That\u2019s where the nature-based solutions come in. That\u2019s where B.C. comes in,\u201d said Bull. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to create a different conversation \u2026 it gives you room to make different solutions financially viable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"logging-on-vancouver-island\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/logging-on-vancouver-island.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nA logging cut block on Vancouver Island, B.C. In 2023, Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development offered several recommendations to help the federal government properly count emissions from forestry. Emily Norton \/ iStock \/ Getty Images Plus
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Proponents of carbon credit markets also say the emerging market\u00a0will incentivize big tech companies to offset their emissions at a time data centres are increasingly consuming large volumes of electricity to power the artificial intelligence sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the current U.S. administration\u2019s attempts to undermine climate policy, Bull said many companies around the world remain serious about bringing carbon neutrality to their operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s opportunity there,\u201d he said. \u201cCarbon is now part of the narrative and part of the financing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The B.C. government\u2019s latest changes to how it measures carbon may make incremental improvements, but Bull said\u00a0the model the province uses to attract big investors is largely falling short.\u00a0He pointed to a number of reasons why that might be \u2014 from the province’s long contract terms to a\u00a0forestry model dictated by annual allowable cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the international marketplace is moving beyond us. We\u2019ve been at it for 20 years or more. It\u2019s suboptimal,\u201d said Bull.\u00a0\u201cI think they\u2019re caught in an internal discussion instead of reaching out to the rest of the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forest carbon credit projects under the microscope<\/p>\n
Bull says no province in Canada has fully embraced a model of forest carbon credits like many other parts of the world. But even where big projects have gone ahead, controversy has followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2022, Mosaic Forest Management Corp. said it would defer logging on 44,000 hectares of land on Vancouver Island in a carbon credit project known as the BigCoast\u00a0Forest Climate Initiative.<\/p>\n
The company, which is privately held by three major public pension funds \u2014 including the B.C.\u00a0Investment Management Corporation (BCI) \u2014 first started receiving credits\u00a0for BigCoast in 2023 as one of the largest improved forest management projects in the world.<\/p>\n
A subsequent audit from the U.S.-based company Renoster\u00a0Systems Inc.\u00a0found the project\u00a0suffers from a set of fundamental problems that render its credits “highly dubious.”<\/p>\n
“Most critically, the project\u2019s area appears to us to be gerrymandered,” Renoster\u00a0concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"vancouver-island-logging\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/vancouver-island-logging.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nA forest cut block on Vancouver Island, B.C. Dave Mantel \/ istock \/ Getty Images Plus
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