This makes sense, Emily - cost premiums related to the higher costs of doing climate-smarter forestry are probably the biggest barrier for getting this to scale. The Collective Action working group has started to look at policy proposals that might address this. For instance, the Food & Agriculture Climate Alliance’s policy recommendations include:
– one for “a new construction tax credit for building with materials that have a lower carbon footprint. The transferrable tax credit would go to the developer of the project or to the entity making most of the decisions/investments in materials for the project. (Projects include residential and multi-story buildings and other buildings, including those providing additional social benefits, such as schools, affordable housing and infrastructure investments.) The amount of the tax credit would be based on the value of the building, not the land, and determined by the building’s carbon footprint score.”
– one for “transferrable tax credits, provided for carbon sequestered, captured and used over a baseline, would incentivize carbon sequestration in forests and storage in wood products;” and for building out “a carbon crediting approach that could apply in the private sector (e.g., with a large brand seeking to validate their investments in carbon removals), as well as in other voluntary markets.”