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FPAC welcomes Canada-US effort to ‘green’ global government operations

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) says it applauds the recent announcement that Canada and the United States would enter a joint net-zero initiative designed to encourage world leaders to “green” their government operations.

The “Greening Government Initiative” – announced Apr. 23 in conjunction with U.S. President Joe Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate, which will gather leaders from top oil-producing countries including Canada to discuss how to reduce emissions – will see Canada, the U.S. and like-minded governments commit to using cleaner energy sources, zero-emission vehicles, and greener procurement and infrastructure.

The countries are creating a forum for countries to cooperate on greening their government operations, from sharing lessons learned to promoting innovation, and, where possible, to set common greening government goals to support the work already underway by countries to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Canada and the U.S. plan to leverage shared purchasing power to drive government operations to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and increase the climate resilience of fixed assets.

FPAC says this collaboration is good news for Canada’s pulp and paper, bioproducts and wood products sector. Mass timber, for example is increasingly being recognized around the world as a low-carbon, sustainable material for construction.

“Canada’s forest sector and its workers are keen to advance climate smart forestry and forest products solutions in our move to a net-zero carbon economy by 2050,” says Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of FPAC, in a statement.

“Increasing government procurement of carbon-storing wood and environmentally friendly products sourced from sustainably managed Canadian forests is just one solution that can help us achieve this goal together. We look forward to continuing our work the U.S. and Canadian governments and our supply chain partners. This effort has real potential to build a greener economy, protect family-supporting jobs and get more Canadians working.”