Carbon Sequestration

• At the close of 2005, Weyerhaeuser owned, licensed, or leased 34.3 million acres of forests worldwide. The company uses scientific principles and environmentally responsible techniques on the highly productive forests it manages to enhance the forest's ability to grow wood quickly. In other areas it uses less intensive practices to emulate natural forest structure. In both cases, these sustainably managed forests sequester large pools of CO₂ inherent in the trees. Weyerhaeuser invests in afforestation ventures in South America to sustainably sequester additional tons of CO₂ and uses recycled fibers in products to extend the time that CO₂ removed from the atmosphere during the tree-growing stage is stored in products.

• In 2005, Weyerhaeuser's direct emissions were 1 million metric tons less than in 2000, our base year -- a 13 percent reduction. Due to the carbon stored in our forests and in our products, Weyerhaeuser sequestered 2.6 times more carbon dioxide than we emitted, effectively removing 10.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. Measured in terms of intensity, our direct GHG emissions were approximately 16 percent below the 2000 baseline.
  
  As a building material, wood from sustainably managed forests has less impact on climate change than do steel or concrete. A consortium of 15 universities and research institutions (known as CORRIM) compared the energy consumed and GHGs emitted by the construction of wood, steel and concrete houses over their entire life cycles. CORRIM found that homes built with wood framing used 17 percent less energy than steel construction and 16 percent less than concrete constructions. Wood generated 26 percent less GHG than steel and 31 percent less than concrete.

To view carbon sequestration and offsets programs of all BELC members, visit What's Being Done in the Business Community [1] section of this site.