Forest Sector Net Zero Roadmap

Developed by members of WBCSD’s Forest Solutions Group in consultation with 21 key stakeholders and support from PwC Canada, this report offers a clear and compelling narrative of the role of sustainable working forests and their products in enabling the transition to a net-zero economy. It describes three key levers of impact that constitute the forest sector’s unique contribution to the transition to a net-zero economy.

1. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in operations and across the value chain;
2. Increase carbon removals through sequestration in sustainable working forests and storage in forest products;
3. Grow the circular bioeconomy through the substitution of non-renewable and fossil-based materials with forest products.

The climate mitigation potential of all three levers is cumulative and forest companies are encouraged to act on all simultaneously while prioritizing emissions reduction. The report supports forest companies in their decision-making, by describing key opportunity spaces where business can take action to realize the potential of all three levers. It also delivers a call to peers in the forest sector, policy makers, investors and customers to join the effort to harness the full transformative potential of working forests and forest products.

A second report will follow in 2022 providing guidance for business in the forest sector to drive ambitious and science-based net-zero strategies based on global accounting frameworks and best practice examples.