In an effort to combat climate change, one of the largest logging companies in the world, Weyerhaeuser, has rebranded itself as a ‘green’ company. In a report published by the Wall Street Journal, we can see that the company has been emphasizing their sustainable forests and their “natural climate solutions”. Weyerhaeuser owns 10.6 million acres of forest in the United States, making them one of the most significant carbon sinks in the world.
The company is rebranding itself as an environmentally-responsible company and touts its ability to make use of forests in order to create products people need while preserving it for future generations. What Weyerhaeuser fails to disclose is that forests take time to regrow, and the lack of old growth forests means the company will never make up for the carbon lost. Studies have found that logged forests can still emit carbon for years after they’ve been cleared.
An article from ProPublica and MIT Technology Review claim that almost 30% of California’s carbon offsets are overvalued due to hasty calculations. The same can be said for companies like Weyerhaeuser who are hoping to offset their emissions through forests. They are banking on the fact that forests can provide long-term benefits for them, yet, the only thing that their current methods show is that carbon debt is simply passed on to the atmosphere.
Weyerhaeuser has also been touting the use of biomass as a carbon solution—or the burning of wood chips for fuel—which many environmental advocates are against. With woodchips coming from the United States, a carbon-intensive journey is taken from the forests to where they’re needed due to the fact that most of the biomass used around the world is from Europe.
Despite the evidence that has emerged about the misuses of carbon accounting, companies like Weyerhaeuser have continued to push for these types of forest offsets. Even Alaska’s governor has been pushing for an initiative that could potentially bring in billions in revenue. The main drivers of this initiative are big oil companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
Weyerhaeuser is a timber company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and was established in 1900. The company is the largest American logging company and one of the largest private owners of timberlands in the world. Weyerhaeuser owns over 13 million acres of timberlands across the United States and Canada, as well as possessing sawmills, pulp, paper and specialty products facilities in the region.
Anton Pil is the head of global alternatives for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Since joining in 2009, he has played an integral role in the company’s growth and transformation. Anton is responsible for the product and client service goals for all J.P. Morgan Alternatives clients, including multinationals and some of the largest global investors. He is an expert in the forestry industry and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal article on Weyerhaeuser claiming that when large timberland purchases occur, carbon is an integral part of the valuation process.
