Sustainably managed forests and the wood products they provide are powerful tools for mitigating climate change. Many consider forests and forest products the most powerful natural climate solution available. As trees grow, they pull carbon from the atmosphere through the natural process of photosynthesis. This carbon is stored in their leaves, branches, and wood, as well as the forest floor, including the soil. There is no better land use for climate mitigation than a forest, and no better technology for capturing carbon than a forest.
In addition to the benefits provided by our forests, the production of new forest products adds roughly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) each year to the 10 billion metric tons of CO2e already stored in existing harvested wood products. Long-lived wood products used in construction also provide additional carbon benefits as a substitute for traditional, non-renewable building materials that consume significantly more energy to produce.
Learn more about forests and climate change at www.ForestCarbonDataViz.org.