We create our own forest ecosystems and protect them for the long term.
Sure, planting trees is nice. But what makes a forest a source of high quality carbon offsets? This is where Borealis’ deep professional experience and passion for forests makes a difference. We are at the front oedge of best practice development in afforestation and conservation projects.
High quality carbon offsets are:
- Additional
- Permanent
- Create secondary environmental or social benefits
- Accurately measured and quantified
- Validated by an independent 3rd party
- Registered
Borealis offsets are clearly additional.
We only create new forests on privately owned, marginal agricultural or pasture land and establish strict legal protection for the forest and carbon stocks. There is no economic incentive to create new forests on private land in British Columbia. We do not work on public land or land where an obligation to reforest the land exists.
Our offsets have a very small development footprint. It doesn’t take significant energy or resources to plant and care for a tree, meaning very small amounts of leakage per tonne of carbon dioxide absorbed.
We have three firm rules that guide our project development:
-
Borealis will not plant trees on land with First Nations (aboriginal) cultural heritage value.
-
Borealis will not cut down standing trees to plant new ones.
-
Borealis will not create new forests on land where a legal OR moral obligation exists to reforest.
Borealis provides three kinds of protection for the permanence of our forest ecosystems and carbon stocks. First, we ensure that the forest is developed on private land and that legal protection of the forest and carbon stocks are in place through strict land covenants or direct ownership.
Second, we protect the forest against natural disturbance such as fire, insects or disease, in several ways. We use best practices in silviculture, including the use of mixed, native species, to limit the risk of natural disturbance and to protect against mortality. Borealis self-insures the new forest against natural disturbance with a reserve fund capable of replanting 50% of the trees and by planting a 400 tree (25%) buffer on each hectare.
Finally, we provide protection to the long term integrity of the forest and the carbon stock through planning for sustainable management practices that not only allow the forest to continue absorbing carbon, but that guarantee the long term health of the forest ecosystem.
Borealis’ offset projects provide a number of secondary social and environmental benefits, including:
-
Restoration of native bio-diversity, including the creation, maintenance and protection of wildlife habitat & fish bearing streams.
- The creation of economic opportunity and diversification in northern communities outside traditional resource extraction industries.
- Respect for, and protection of, aboriginal cultural heritage.
- We make our forest stands available for ongoing and long term academic research on carbon sequestration.
We use the Canadian Forest Service Carbon Budget Model 3 to estimate carbon stocks because it is the most accurate model available for Canadian forests and because it provides transparency in use. CBM CFS3 is open, auditable and publicly available. To provide input data to the model, we use the advanced TASS (Tree and Stand Simulator) program. TASS is more comprehensive than the more widely used TIPSY (Table Interpolation Program for Stand Yields). We have access to one of only two non-government TASS applications.
Before site preparation we measure carbon content of soils as well as above ground carbon pools to inform our baseline carbon stocks and flows. We model carbon stocks three times. First, we use carbon modelling to inform our planting prescription. After planting, we use field measurements across site strata to develop an accurate, real reflection of what trees are growing where. This audit provides the input to a second carbon modelling step that is prepared before project validation. This measurement iteration is externally validated to ISO14064.
We also use carbon modelling to estimate changes in carbon stocks fifteen to twenty years after planting to confirm our initial estimates.
We develop our projects using the Greenhouse Gas Project Protocol and the Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) Guidance for GHG Project Accounting produced by the World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Our project development protocol is also informed by the UN IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry. To be as strict as possible in assessment of additionality, we use the CDM Additionality Tool produced by the UNFCCC under the Kyoto Protocol.
Our project development is in accordance with ISO 14064-2. Validation of our projects is independently measured against ISO 14064-2 using ISO 14064-3 (guidance for project validation and verification).
BOREALIS’ offsets are validated by the Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute (NRESI) at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) in Prince George to ISO 14064 standards.
We have chosen NRESI as an independent, external third party based on their academic objectivity as well as their comprehensive knowledge of carbon fluxes and bio-diversity in the sub-boreal forest. We are also committed to building capacity in our northern communities when we can.
For offsets from Phase One of McPhee Creek, we maintain a temporary internal registry that will issue unique identification numbers to each carbon offset tonne which has been independently validated to ISO 14064. Certificates and registry numbers will be issued to customers for each offset tonne purchased and sold. Operation of the registry will be supervised by a certified Chartered Accountant.
The registry is also open and transparent to our clients or auditors of their choosing.
On completion of Phase Two, all the offsets of the McPhee Creek Project will be listed on the Markit Environmental Registry, the leading registry in the global voluntary carbon market.