West Fraser explains new carbon negative status

In the first of a series of blogs, West Fraser will guide you through the new construction – and indeed world – buzz phrase CARBON NEGATIVITY. Each will look at different angles on the subject and what it means to all of us – and West Fraser’s customers specifically. You only have to start looking around search engines, construction associations and the media to see that, in 2019, “the UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050. The target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, compared with the previous target of at least 80% reduction from 1990 levels.” In every aspect of every company’s organisation, this target must be the golden thread.  In fact, we should all be aware of how we live our lives in terms of protecting the environment; we have all got the message now so what has happened at West Fraser this month?

Very proudly, West Fraser now holds a net carbon negative status across all products and operations, locking up more CO2 than the organisation emits. West Fraser has always led the way in tackling the issue of climate change and, today, the company’s four European sites and three product ranges sequester a total of 1.1 million tonnes of carbon annually.  That means it is removed from the atmosphere and locked up!

While carbon neutrality – another term you will see everywhere – means that an activity releases net zero carbon emissions into the atmosphere, carbon negativity signifies that an activity goes beyond achieving net zero carbon emissions. This creates an environmental benefit by not releasing carbon dioxide that would ordinarily be released into the atmosphere. And, as timber is the main component of West Fraser’s products, carbon is sequestered and locked up for the life of the board.

The confirmation of West Fraser’s carbon negative status comes after more than a long year of analysis and independent verification, although many West Fraser products have been carbon negative for significantly longer. After all the hard work, all West Fraser products now have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). If a customer or any other interested party would like to know more at this stage, these EPD documents communicate transparent and comparable information about the product’s life cycle environmental impact. The life cycle analysis accounts for all stages from forest to merchant, including harvesting, production, sales and logistics.