Mosaic Forest Management to Defer Timber Harvesting on Some of its Timberland, Opting to Sell Carbon Credits Instead

Mosaic Forest Management, which oversees forest holdings for two B.C. companies—TimberWest Forest Corp. and Island Timberlands L.P.—which are owned by three large pension plans (the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and Alberta Investment Management Corp.) announced on Wednesday (3-16-22) that it will defer the harvesting of 40,000 hectares of “old forests” on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii for at least 25-years. They will instead opt to sell nature-based carbon credits to companies that want to offset a portion of their greenhouse gas emissions.

Mosaic estimates the program, which it calls the “BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative,” will generate between $100 million and $300 million, based on current prices for carbon credits.

In an interview, Mosaic chief forester Domenico Iannidinardo said, “We expect to make at least as much from the BigCoast initiative as we would earn from harvesting these forests.”

Mr. Iannidinardo added that, going forward, Mosaic will offer smaller British Columbia forest managers and First Nations the opportunity to add their timberlands to the BigCoast initiative.

In a press release, Mosaic chief executive Jeff Zweig said, “The BigCoast Forest Climate Initiative brings high-quality, large-scale, nature-based carbon credits to a growing international market. The initiative generates economic value, contributes to the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, and benefits our local partners.”

Mosaic says it plans to share a portion of BigCoast’s revenue with two charities: the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas Innovation Program. In a news release, T’Sou-ke First Nation Chief Gordon Planes said, “This initiative provides decades of certainty for First Nations to research these lands.”