Rayonier 2022 Sustainability Report: Carbon Footprint

Originally published on Rayonier.com

RAYONIER'S CARBON FOOTPRINT

Rayonier grows and manages an abundant renewable resource that provides many benefits to society, including carbon sequestration. 

In order to quantify the impacts that our global operations have on the environment, we conduct an annual analysis of the carbon sequestration and emissions across our forestry operations and corporate activities. We calculate the carbon sequestered by our forests, the emissions associated with our operations, and the carbon removed/transferred from our forests through harvest activity. We developed this analysis based on methodologies published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries. When estimating the carbon stored in our forests, we include overstory trees, understory vegetation, coarse woody debris, forest floor, and soil.

This analysis demonstrates that our working forests provide a natural climate change solution, in that we sequester substantially more carbon than we emit every year. In 2022, Rayonier’s forests sequestered over 14.6 million MtCO₂-e⁴ versus corporate emissions of roughly 290,000 MtCO₂-e⁵. Moreover, a significant portion of the carbon contained in the logs we sell to our customers each year remains stored for many decades through their conversion to a multitude of wood products.

FOR A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT IN THE U.S. AND NEW ZEALAND, SEE OUR CARBON REPORT.

To learn more, view the full Rayonier 2022 Sustainability Report.