March 12, 2007
Contact: Randall Beren, Communications Director The Pacific Forest Trust – 415.561.0700
Governor Schwarzenegger to Reduce Carbon Footprint Using Emissions Offsets from Forest Conservation Project Climate Benefits of Working Forests are Key to Combating Global Warming SAN FRANCISCO, CA – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated by his jet travel (both personal and official) by supporting the Pacific Forest Trust’s Van Eck Forest Project – a forest conservation and stewardship project that will permanently reduce approximately 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions over a 100-year period. This is the first emissions reductions project registered with and following the rigorous standards of the California Climate Action Registry. "California is a leader in the fight against global warming. I look forward to working with organizations like the Pacific Forest Trust because it is important that we continue to focus on innovative ways to reduce our society's carbon footprint," says Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Owned by the Fred M. van Eck Forest Foundation, the 2,200-acre Van Eck Forest in Humboldt County is a working redwood forest conserved and managed by the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) to increase carbon stores, restore biodiversity and old growth qualities, and provide habitat for endangered species. Therefore, in addition to helping cool the climate, the Van Eck Forest Project helps protect wildlife habitat, safeguard clean water and sustain rural communities and jobs for the benefit of all Californians. Forests like Van Eck provide climate benefits by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in trees for hundreds of years. California’s coastal redwood forests – which grow the fastest, largest and for the longest period of time – are especially vital as they are among the most productive forest carbon “sinks” in the world. Because older forests store more CO2 in their trees than do younger forests, managing the Van Eck Forest to store more carbon will result in substantially greater stores of carbon sooner than could be achieved by planting trees or from conventional management practices. "Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from two sources: fossil fuels and forest loss," says PFT President Laurie Wayburn. “To successfully address climate change, we must work on both sources, complementing the major focus on fossil fuels with actions for forests. We applaud the Governor’s leadership in backing the conservation and carbon management of working forests.” The Governor will pay the Fred M. van Eck Forest Foundation from his own personal funds to acquire the Van Eck Forest Project offsets. The Pacific Forest Trust will represent the landowner. Forest loss, scientists agree, is responsible for roughly 25% of all man-made, global CO2 emissions today (and more than 40% in the past when forestlands were cleared for fuel, cities and farmlands). In the U.S., for example, roughly 1.5 million acres of forests are currently lost to development and conversion each year. Figured conservatively, this forest loss results in the release of 275 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere – a release equivalent to one year’s emissions output by 53 million vehicles. Schwarzenegger’s commitment to offset the impact his air travel has on global warming expands upon similar efforts by other high-ranking California officials and demonstrates growing, bi-partisan support for forests and their climate benefits.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D), who shares the Governor’s desire to see California lead the climate change movement and who authored AB 32, has worked with PFT to use Van Eck Forest carbon to offset travel to various climate-related events including his recent trip to Washington D.C. to testify before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. “Forests are one of the amazing environmental treasures California holds in trust for the future and carbon offsets are an important new tool in our fight against climate change,” states Speaker Núñez. “Being able to lower our carbon footprint and lessen global warming at the same time we’re boosting our forests and their benefits, that’s an easy win-win for California and the world.” Secretary Linda Adams of the California Environmental Protection and her deputy secretary, Eileen Tutt, also used Van Eck forest carbon last December to offset the CO2 emissions generated by their trip to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference for the 2nd Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Kenya. “This is a new concept that we are pioneering in California with the Pacific Forest Trust,” comments Secretary Linda Adams of the California Environmental Protection Agency. “This is something the Governor personally feels is the right thing to do.” Van Eck Forest Project emission reductions are highly credible, high-quality offsets because: • the Project follows the rigorous, standardized accounting requirements called for in the California Climate Action Registry Forest Protocols that will include third-party verification and yearly monitoring • their permanence is assured by a conservation easement (held by PFT) that guides long term forestry and prevents the forestlands from being developed or converted to other uses • the sustainable forestry practiced on Van Eck will result in more carbon being sequestered than could be attained through conventional management, as measured against a baseline of “business as usual” practices ”The Van Eck Forest Project meets the highest standards, providing real, significant and durable sequestration,” says California Climate Action Registry President Diane Wittenberg. Studies by Oregon State University scientists Mark Harmon and Olga Krankina show that forests managed to achieve increased carbon stores could lead to an additional 25 billion metric tons of carbon stored globally over the next 50 years. Matched by reductions in fossil fuel use, investments in the conservation, restoration and carbon management of working forests would enable the US to become carbon neutral and begin repairing the climate. –END– The Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to protecting America’s working forests for all their public. In California, PFT has been instrumental in crafting legislation and policies that ensure the role of forests in the State’s climate change programs and has registered the first emission reductions project with the California Climate Action Registry. Nationally, PFT published the landmark “Forest Carbon in the United States” report and is advising state governments and federal leaders about the inclusion of conservation and sustainable management in climate policies and markets. To learn more about the Pacific Forest Trust and our campaigns, please visit www.PacificForest.org.