Tackling the Climate Crisis
Ancinas Joins Forestry, Conservation and Environmental CEOs to Establish Common Ground on the Role of Private Working Forests as a Natural Climate Solution
SEATTLE, Nov. 12, 2020 – Port Blakely CEO, René Ancinas joined 47 environmental, conservation and forest business leaders today in announcing an agreement of principles on the important role sustainably managed forests and forest products can play in mitigating climate change.
“As a family-owned company focused on cultivating a healthy world, tackling the climate crisis is an urgent priority,” Ancinas said. “Our working forests must be part of the solution so the next generation can continue our stewardship.”
Today, forests in the U.S. offset 15% of the country’s industrial carbon emissions. Carbon sequestration in sustainably managed private forest lands and carbon storage in forest products can provide a natural solution to climate change while also providing a wide variety of additional benefits like clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and good paying jobs.
The principles are signed by the CEOs of American Forests, American Forest Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, National Alliance of Forest Owners, The Nature Conservancy, and the CEOs of 43 forestry businesses representing over 46 million acres of working forests across the United States.
The executives are united in a common vision: to harness the power of the private forest sector to address climate change, we must engage forest owners of all sizes, support strong rural economies, and ensure sustainable, science-based practices.
The policy principles encourage incentive and market-based approaches to increase the carbon benefits of working forests and forest products. They recognize the important role that private sector participation, investment, and partnerships can play in expanding carbon benefits from the forest sector. The principles underscore the importance of safeguards that promote positive outcomes for forests and the climate, healthy markets for forest products, and investments needed to strengthen rural communities. They also emphasize need for robust science, data and life cycle analysis to guide policy.
The principles provide a common starting place for signing CEOs, and their respective organizations, to engage policymakers, business leaders in other sectors, investors, shareholders, and other stakeholders in discussions about climate solutions available through forestry and wood products.
About the CEO Principles
The CEO Principles are a shared vision for increasing the contribution of forests and forest products to climate mitigation from leaders of the environmental, conservation and forest business communities. The signing CEOs recognize that private working forests and forest products can play an important role in mitigating climate change through thoughtful policy, private sector engagement, and investment in rural communities.
For More Information: https://nafoalliance.org/ceo-principles