- TIMBERBIZ.COM.AU - A La Une - 20/Jun 00:41

New Standard covering greenhouse gas as it applies to wood

The International Sustainable Forestry Coalition (ISFC) has welcomed the release by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) of its new Standard covering the way greenhouse gas accounting should be applied to wood and wood-based products. Source: Timberbiz Until the publication of this Standard, there had not been an internationally agreed upon accounting approach for biogenic carbon emissions and removals – an important piece of the puzzle to support corporate climate action and reach global net zero targets. The new series is ISO 13391 Wood and wood-based products — Greenhouse gas dynamics and covers all essential components of carbon accounting for the sector: carbon in forests, carbon in harvested wood products and potential greenhouse gas emissions avoided through the use of wood-based products instead of fossil-based products. “The forestry and forest products sector is a vital contributor to global net zero ambitions – removing and storing carbon in the trees in our productive and conservation forests, and in the wood and paper products, which also play an important role in the circular bioeconomy, replacing fossil-based products,” Chief Executive Officer of the ISFC Ross Hampton said, “However, the role of the forests and forest products sector in the battle to meet global emission reductions goals has been hamstrung by a lack of an internationally agreed accounting process to underpin the calculations covering how much carbon is stored in forests and forest products. “For this reason, we congratulate ISO, and the national standards bodies* which feed into the ISO process, for this definitive work.” ISFC encourages ISO to complete its full suite of standards for GHG accounting and corporate net zero as soon as possible to ensure maximum uptake as time is critical in the battle against a warming climate. ISO 13391 parts 1 and 2 is considered a complement to the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, which is widely used by ISFC Members and the global business community. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is generally recognised as the appropriate way to account for organisational level GHG fossil-based emissions.