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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19517395

With its vast expanses of forest, Canada has the most “certified” sustainable timber operations of any nation, according to the nonprofit organizations that attest to the environmental soundness of logging practices.

Such forestry-standards groups were born in the 1990s out of rage over tropical rainforest destruction. Today, they put their leafy seals of approval on toilet paper, two-by-fours and other wood and paper goods to assure eco-conscious consumers and investors they were responsibly produced.

Yet research shows Canadian forests have seen some of the world’s largest declines in ecologically critical primary and old-growth woodlands over the last two decades, even as sustainability-certification programs grew to include nearly all of Canada’s logging.

To track destruction of older woodlands in these certified zones, Reuters analyzed forestry data in Ontario, a major logging province. The analysis found that about 30% of the certified boreal forests harvested from 2016 to 2020 were at least 100 years old. That resulted in the loss of 377 square miles of these older forests, an area the size of New York City and Washington D.C. combined, the analysis found.

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D.C. appeals court holds that environmental nonprofit can challenge beverage giant’s sustainability claims.

The UN's COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan will focus on climate finance and raising funds for developing countries affected by the climate crisis.

Dubbed the “finance COP”,

Bats are considered a natural pesticide, widely relied on by farmers as an alternative to chemical pesticides to protect their crops from insects. But since 2006, many bat populations have collapsed in counties in North America due to an invasive fungus found in the caves bats use during the day and throughout winter that causes what is known as White-Nose Syndrome.

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The US oil industry has been making up for the difference through enormous exports.

On November 5, residents of Berkeley will vote on a ballot measure that proposes taxing the owners of buildings of 15,000 square feet or larger based on the amount of natural gas consumed each year. If passed, legal experts say this would be the first tax in the country to target the use of a specific fuel source for buildings. City officials estimate that the tax would apply to over 600 buildings in Berkeley and generate $26.7 million during its first year, an amount larger than the city’s annual sales tax revenue. Of those funds, 90% would go toward retrofitting homes and buildings in the city with electric HVAC and appliances, and 10% would go toward city administrative costs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/climate/2024-hottest-summer-on-record.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ik4.KUeX.iA90kAAIuIwd

The agency again failed to account for full environmental justice and climate impacts, opponents argue.

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