Growing Climate Solutions, Trillion Trees Act Highlighted as Natural Solutions That Promote “Win-Win” Scenarios
Last Wednesday, ConservAmerica proudly hosted the latest in our series of webinars discussing environment and conservation issues. This edition discussed how a number of “natural solutions” to climate change have emerged from Republicans as commonsense policy options for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Two lawmakers, Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and U.S. Representative Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4), joined to discuss their proposals. They were followed by Dave Tenny, CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO).
Braun began by assuring viewers that the Senate Climate Caucus, which was formed last fall, has already garnered a lot of bipartisan support and has stayed busy during the pandemic. He commented that conservatives should be encouraged by recent GOP efforts.
“I think the work that needs to be done mostly is the disconnect that most of party leadership in my conference has with the fact that they still view the climate discussion as a step away from carbon pricing, and they don’t even realize that many in industry, in trade are interested maybe in that versus less regulation,” he explained.
Braun introduced the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which would create a certification program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help remove technical entry barriers to agricultural and forestry sector participation in carbon credit markets.
While demand for carbon offsets is on the rise, access to voluntary carbon markets remains elusive for many farmers and forest owners. These issues — including access to reliable information about markets and qualified technical assistance providers and credit protocol verifiers — have limited both landowner participation and the adoption of practices to help reduce the costs of developing carbon credits.
Braun says the idea has been well received.
“I’ve been very pleased by how proactive across the board the stakeholders are even beyond agriculture — transportation, energy production…technology and finance…they want to be part of the solution.”
He was followed by Westerman, who is an engineer and forester by trade. Congressman Westerman noted that environmental stewardship is an important issue for conservatives to reclaim because they started the conservation movement.
“When we talk about climate, I say that Republicans have to embrace the idea of our roots,” he said. “As you look back at the great champions of conservation and taking care of our environment and being a good steward, most of them were Republicans and conservatives.”
He singled out Republican President Theodore Roosevelt as well as Gifford Pinchot, a Republican who served as the first head of the U.S. Forest Service and also started the Yale School of Forestry where Westerman earned his master’s degree.
“So, I’m on a mission to help put conservative back into conservation, and a great way to do that is with these natural climate solutions like the Trillion Trees Act,” he said
To this end, Westerman introduced the Trillion Trees Act in February. The legislation seeks to plant one trillion trees globally by 2050 and incentivize the use of wood products as carbon sequestration devices. The congressman summarized the plan succinctly for viewers: “plant more trees, grow more wood, and use that wood in building materials.”
He said the idea came from a Swedish researcher who reported that planting one trillion trees across the world could sequester 205 gigatons of carbon — roughly the equivalent of two-thirds of all manmade carbon since the Industrial Revolution.
“The data is clear…there’s no question there’s more carbon in the atmosphere, there’s no question that it’s tied to man-made activities, but I think there’s also no question that there’s nothing more pragmatic that you can do to take that carbon out of the atmosphere than to plant trees.”
But, the congressman said, there are skeptics because the idea comes from Republicans.
“People say it’s not enough,” he reported. “I say, well, you tell me anything that is more proactive to help then environment than planting trees. We measure environmental quality by air quality and water quality, and trees are the linchpin between those two.”
“This idea that we can use a natural solution that has all these win-win scenarios to make the world a better place is something that is real important to me,” he added.
As an example, Westerman mentioned that Walmart is building its new corporate headquarters in his home state out of mass timber, which will store 17 million tons of carbon. To incentivize such projects, the Trillion Trees Act also includes a sustainable building tax credit.
A third panelist was Dave Tenny, president and CEO of (NAFO), whose member companies own and manage more than 46 million acres of private working forests that provide American industry a steady supply of timber.
Tenny reported his organization has a head start on the Trillion Trees initiative, planting more than one billion trees a year. In fact, NAFO’s members plant 43 percent more trees than they harvest annually.
“When we think of carbon policy — natural climate solution policy that has to do with forests — there’s a simple equation we use. Markets plus trees plus wood equals mitigation at scale,” he said.
So, to produce mitigation at scale, NAFO looks at the three S’s: Sequestration in trees, Storage in wood products, and Substitution of those products for others that are more carbon-intensive.
Tenny said that a smart natural solutions policy framework has to encourage participation, including landowners and builders of all shapes and sizes. He also said there has to be integrity in the reporting process with a focus on outcomes — not cumbersome rules and regulations.
Attracting private-sector investment is another key. He highlighted some early adopters looking at natural solutions, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Adidas, Amazon, Walmart, and McDonald’s, and suggested the policy has to reward good actors.
ConservAmerica’s Todd Johnston, who moderated the panel, then asked several questions of the panelists.
He began by asking Westerman about the international support surrounding the Trillion Trees initiative. Westerman said global cooperation is critical as there are only about three trillion trees on the Earth today; scientists think as many as six trillion may have existed at one time. He cited Israel’s reforesting efforts as an example of efforts abroad.
Johnston also asked Braun how his legislation would affect the volume of credits in carbon markets. However, the senator said it’s not about flooding the market.
“In a nutshell, this is simply putting the ability for small farmers, ag. farmers, and tree farmers, to be able to go through the portal they are most familiar… to get the acreage certified and put into a position to where it is going to be market-certified to be able to qualify for offsets,” he explained.
“This has probably only been available to larger landowners and this is going to democratize it to make sure that any farmer that practices good stewardship can now get value for it, and it doesn’t cost anything.”
The full webinar can be watched here.
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