Special Committee tackles Carbon Credit Tracking in Georgia

Georgia is taking steps to ensure the emerging sustainable development carbon market is open to the state’s forests. A special technical advisory committee has been seated to help build Georgia’s Sustainable Development Carbon Registry. The action will supplement Georgia’s existing voluntary Carbon Registry by tracking the amount of carbon stored in commercial construction projects and also making life cycle assessments to measure all carbon impacts from raw material extraction to the building material’s final disposal. Carbon credits can then be quantified and awarded through the voluntary Registry.  The technical committee was created by legislative action that amended the Registry, developed in 2004, to calculate the amount of carbon being absorbed by the state’s forestland. The new amendment will incentivize real estate developers to utilize materials like lumber that continue sequestering carbon after the tree has been harvested and another has been planted in its place.  “The Georgia Forestry Commission is proud to be facilitating this important effort,” said Georgia Forestry Commission Director Tim Lowrimore. “We’ve gathered an extraordinary group of subject experts who are off and running, creating necessary benchmarks for tracking the emission and absorption of carbon in our state. Along with the forest community, architects, builders and others will benefit from a system that builds sustainability into every construction project.”  For more information about how forests capture carbon and other benefits of Georgia’s forests and services of the Georgia Forestry Commission, visit GaTrees.org.