Harvesting Carbon Credits From Forests

Group wants to bring to Caifornia the practice of buying "credits" for preserving a forest's carbon-absorbing capacity by industries looking to offset their companies' pollution contribution

1 minute read

October 19, 2000, 3:00 PM PDT

By California 2000


Laurie Wayburn and Connie Best, cofounders of thePacific Forest Trust, are pushing to include this practice as afinancial incentive for land conservation. Currently, a similar systemexists as utilities can buy sulfur dioxide emission credits from lesspolluting plants under the Clean Air Act. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol hasalso advocated carbon-trading. However, some leading environmentalistshave argued that it would be more effective to reduce pollution at thesource rather than using forests as carbon credits. Wayburn and Besthave established conservation easements on 15,000 acres of forests inCalifornia, which could represent marketable carbon credits with theparticipation of regulators and applicable industries.

Thanks to California 2000 Project

Sunday, October 15, 2000 in The Los Angeles Times

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