Proactively adapting to climate change

Climate change is an existential threat to society and our Forest Supply Chain is well positioned to make a positive impact. Understanding climate change is proactively built into strategy. With decades of experience, forest owners recognize there are shorter winters, changes in precipitation, new forest pests, and shifts in species composition. The trees planted today will be harvested in a different climate, just as the climate differs today from when our predecessors were planting 60 years ago.

A changing climate can present risks to our Supply Chain which will impact costs, future wood supply and operations, and cause damage to infrastructure. However, change in the climate can also present opportunities to improve forest growth and a heightened demand for renewable forest products and energy.

The Steering Committee, through proactive interaction with subject matter experts in the Divisional Leadership Teams, identify assess and manage physical and transitional risks and opportunities in the Supply Chain. These are identified internally by subject matter experts in the divisional teams through their own experience and continued engagement with external researchers from various disciplines like forest management, hydrology, genetics, silviculture, pest and wildfire management, and various engineering fields. Guided by the best available science and engineering advice, the members of the individual Forestry Executive Leadership Teams direct the investment of capital and human resources into tools and technologies to mitigate the impacts of climate change and react to opportunities.

Creating resiliency to climate change is part of sustainable forest management, the foundation of of which is our adaptable 80-year management plan, which is revised every 5 years. This planning process has built-in flexibility to account for gradual changes in tree composition or growth, or sudden eventdriven changes like wildfires.