Recently I went to Chicago, Illinois for training on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which has become the most used sustainability reporting framework for companies to measure and report their sustainability performance. We share the non-profit GRI’s belief that this kind of reporting done transparently and with accountability can drive progress in corporate sustainability.
What do you get when you bring together cutting edge non-profits, land trusts, consulting foresters, land managers, leading forest products companies with conservation-minded landowners in the beautiful Southern Blue Ridge? The Dogwood Alliance hosted 2013 Spring Carbon Canopy in Asheville, NC of course!
Yesterday’s release of International Paper’s 2012 Sustainability Report could indeed mark a true acceleration in the greening of the forest products industry, particularly the pulp and paper sector, which remains one of the most environmentally destructive industries on the planet…or not.
Overall LEED is an important tool for improving buildings because of its forward-looking position on forests, energy efficiency and chemicals of concerns. Now this successful private, voluntary, system is under attack by lobbyists from old-guard forest products companies including Weyerhaeuser in North Carolina and others around the country…
WRI has just published a new brief, to discuss one that does, an innovative project called The Carbon Canopy, led by Asheville-based Dogwood Alliance and office products company Staples. The project is a consortium of companies (including Columbia Forest Products, Domtar and Coca Cola), large and small private woodland owners, and environmental organizations (including Rainforest Alliance and Pacific Forest Trust) that seeks to leverage markets for ecosystem services with the aim of increasing the area of protected lands in the Southern US and increase the acreage of forests certified under sustainable management.
