Coalition seeks to quantify mass timber’s carbon storage capacity
Sources: Green Canopy NODE, Seattle; Timber Finance Initiative, Zurich; CP staff
The Timber Finance Initiative and Green Canopy NODE, respective advocates of sustainable investment tools and affordable, standardized residential building, lead a group of field and technical experts tasked with developing the first mass timber carbon credit methodology and submitting a concept for Verified Carbon Standard Program review. Administered by Verra of Washington, D.C., VCS encompasses independent auditing, project-specific accounting methodologies, and a verified carbon unit registry.
“A rigorous methodology will help realize the climate value of stored carbon in mass timber construction and help scale mass timber as a negative emissions technology and low-emissions building material,” the group contends. “If procured from sustainable forest management, mass timber mitigates climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere[,] storing it long-term in buildings and replacing greenhouse gas-intensive conventional building materials.”
Joining Timber Finance and Green Canopy in the effort are South Pole, a European climate solutions provider and carbon project developer, and Gordian Knot Strategies, a Portland, Ore. specialist in carbon emissions reduction.
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