Nearly a dozen environmental groups are calling on the federal government to expand its review of carbon emissions from Canada’s forestry sector, saying the current scope does not address their concerns about underestimating emissions.
In an open letter, the groups say the federal government’s review must first consider how forest emissions are estimated.
The letter, signed by representatives of 11 environmental groups including Nature Canada and Nature Quebec, says the scope of the review undermines its credibility.
The letter comes after the federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development released a report last year recommending that Ottawa launch an independent review to examine how it estimates and reports emissions from logging .
In response to this report, the government agreed that an independent review was important, but noted that the science behind its carbon reports had been peer-reviewed.
The commissioner’s report was echoed by environmental groups that have long criticized reporting on emissions from the forestry sector, in part because they say the government blames the sector for emissions absorbed by some trees that regrow naturally after wildfires. forest.
“It doesn’t make logical sense because there is no human intervention. In terms of the regrowth of these trees, it’s completely natural. There is no real justification for counting and crediting the forestry sector in this regard,” said Michael Polanyi, policy and campaigns manager for Nature Canada.
According to a study published in January in the journal Frontierswhich is subject to peer review, Canada’s reporting mechanism makes it an exception among most other industrialized countries.
According to the authors’ calculations, the Canadian forest sector contributed on average the equivalent of approximately 91 million tonnes of CO2 per year between 2005 and 2021, which is largely comparable to the electricity and agriculture sectors. However, the federal government credits the sector with absorbing the equivalent of 4.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year on average over the same period, according to the study.
Mr Polanyi says this gap leads to “all kinds of distorted policy solutions” because it presents the sector as a carbon sink and climate solution.