We did it! In November at the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild Trade Show in Philadelphia, the Carbon Canopy announced transactions for carbon offsets from our first two projects in Western North Carolina and Southwest Virginia. So what do you do in 2014 after a successful launch of the Carbon Canopy’s first transactions?
Well, you conserve more forests and continue to build out the exciting ideas behind the Carbon Canopy: that forests can be valued for more than just timber; and responsible forest products companies and retailers can invest in leading-edge forestry that conserves carbon and delivers the products that we all need and use.
We have a lot planned for 2014. Even now, we’re looking for new Carbon Canopy projects to move forward. We have a couple that are very promising: one in West Virginia/Southwest Virginia and another in North Carolina. In fact, our team is out in the woods this month in West Virginia conducting field work to measure trees and develop the carbon inventory for one of our projects. After gaining this important experience in developing our first pilot projects, we we’re now digging in and exploring how to develop the most effective business structure and financial mechanisms to develop more projects. These mechanisms will help both Dogwood and more landowners achieve our goal of:
- Long-term stewardship
- Responsible forest management
- Growing forest carbon stocks to help buffer us from climate change
Imagine getting paid not to cut down your trees! While the carbon market and carbon offsets might not be the only policy tool to address our climate crisis, with our partners and landowners, we are conserving forests, greening the forests products industry and sequestering hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon in forests across the southern Appalachians.
Dogwood’s Carbon Canopy project really is building a better world.
Read more about the Carbon Canopy Project: