Forests and Climate
NAFO supports standardized, transparent carbon accounting frameworks that policymakers, investors, and stakeholders can trust.
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Private working forests and forest products provide massive climate benefits. Through a continuing cycle of planting, growing and harvesting, sustainable forest management optimizes a forest’s ability to sequester and store carbon and improves resiliency, maintaining the ability to sequester carbon in the future.
Data from the U.S. Forest Service plainly show that sustainability and productivity can go hand in hand in private working forests. At just half of the U.S. forestland base, private working forests deliver outsized climate benefits:
of annual net forest carbon sequestration
Nearly 50% of long-term carbon storage
of domestic timber harvests
Still, not all forests should be managed the same way. All forests provide value – there is no single “best” forest type category, or condition. Claims that all forests should be managed for production or, conversely, left entirely untouched overlook the nuance of forest ecosystems and management objectives. In reality, balance across the landscape, shaped by local conditions and societal needs, can maximize economic and environmental benefits.
NAFO members manage more than 44 million acres of private working forests across 30 states. This makes private working forests not just an environmental asset, but an economic engine for jobs, housing supply, and energy innovation.
69MMT
NAFO forests sequester 69 million metric tons of CO2e annually.
13BMT
NAFO forests store 13 billion metric tons of CO2e.
Leadership on Climate
NAFO’s Climate Priority
In 2020, NAFO members joined with leaders from The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, American Forests, and the American Forest Foundation to launch the CEO Principles. Signed by 43 NAFO CEOs, this agreement established common ground on the role of private working forests in climate solutions. Together, these leaders advocate for market-based policies that harness forests and forest products to lower emissions, grow rural economies, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness.
To show how this works in practice, NAFO created ForestCarbonDataViz.org – an award-winning resource that makes complex forest carbon data easy to understand through interactive visualizations. Using the best publicly available datasets, the platform illustrates how private working forests deliver continuous climate benefits while driving economic growth.
Why Data Integrity Matters
Forest carbon data should be clear and comparable – not a patchwork.
Today, inconsistent methodologies and fragmented data sources make it hard to understand impacts across the forest value chain. That’s why NAFO supports standardized, transparent carbon accounting frameworks that policymakers, investors, and stakeholders can trust.
Trusted data is also an economic advantage. Credible, reliable frameworks can help U.S. producers compete globally, attract investment, and access new markets. Consistent carbon data strengthens confidence in U.S. forestry as a long-term climate and economic solution.
Bottom Line
Private working forests and forest products are a win for the climate, rural prosperity, and U.S. competitiveness.
Forests and Climate Frequently Asked Questions
Climate-smart forestry is a dynamic and adaptable approach within sustainable forest management (SFM) that optimizes climate adaptation and mitigation outcomes. These outcomes include:
- Stable or increased carbon sequestration and storage;
- Mitigation of severe wildfire risks;
- Assurance that forests remain intact through continuous cycles of growth, harvest, and regrowth;
- Displacement of carbon-intensive materials through the production of sustainable, renewable, carbon-conscious products;
- Healthy and resilient forests;
- Alignment of climate benefits with the needs of rural communities; and
- Forest adaptation to a changing climate.
Climate-smart forestry is guided by science and can adapt to different regions, forest types, and changing conditions. It recognizes the vital role of different forest types, including private working forests like those owned by NAFO members, in achieving climate solutions.
Learn more about climate-smart forestry at ClimateSmartForests.org.
Sustainable forest management (SFM) ensures forests remain forests through continuous cycles of growth, harvest, and regrowth. This is critical to mitigating climate change, as forests absorb, sequester, and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Private working forests like those owned by NAFO members provide nearly 80% of the annual net sequestration and 51% of the carbon stored in all U.S. forests.
In some instances, a forest’s ability to sequester and store carbon is used in carbon-offset programs, typically through afforestation (establishing a forest on land not previously forested) or through improved forest management.
Using wood products in place of more carbon-intensive materials can also improve climate outcomes. Wood is renewable and great at storing carbon, especially if the wood comes from a sustainably managed forest.
If steel and concrete were a country, their combined emissions would be the third largest in the world after the U.S. and China. The more wood we use in place of these and other carbon-intensive materials, the better – as long as we’re maintaining our forests.
Learn more about forests and climate change at www.ForestCarbonDataViz.org.
Climate change is increasing the threats to forests. Heat, drought, wildfires, diseases, and insects are some of the main culprits harming our forests. In some states, there are hundreds of millions of standing dead trees.
While active forest management isn’t the sole solution, it is a vital tool to help mitigate these threats. For example, sustainable forest management (SFM) practices, such as fuel-reduction treatments, fuel breaks, and forest roads, help mitigate the risk of severe wildfires. Investment in resilient seedlings and research-based management practices enhance forest productivity and resistance to climate change impacts.
Without immediate and sustained action, forest mortality will continue, and more forests will likely succumb to severe wildfire.
Sustainably managed forests and the wood products they provide are powerful tools for mitigating climate change. Many consider forests and forest products the most powerful natural climate solution available. As trees grow, they pull carbon from the atmosphere through the natural process of photosynthesis. This carbon is stored in their leaves, branches, and wood, as well as the forest floor, including the soil. There is no better land use for climate mitigation than a forest, and no better technology for capturing carbon than a forest.
In addition to the benefits provided by our forests, the production of new forest products adds roughly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) each year to the 10 billion metric tons of CO2e already stored in existing harvested wood products. Long-lived wood products used in construction also provide additional carbon benefits as a substitute for traditional, non-renewable building materials that consume significantly more energy to produce.
Learn more about forests and climate change at www.ForestCarbonDataViz.org.
Sustainable forest management (SFM) can improve a forest’s natural ability to sequester (carbon capture) and store carbon. When you include carbon-storing wood products, the story gets even better.
Growing trees convert carbon dioxide (CO2) to carbon and store it in their trunks, roots, branches, and leaves – much of it as wood and fiber that we use to make forest products. This process also releases oxygen, which is good for humans.
Forests do not sequester carbon at a linear rate over their lifetimes. They eventually slow sequestering and become net sources of carbon emissions through processes like respiration, decomposition, or wildfire-induced combustion. Sustainable forest management (SFM) yields a mosaic of forest conditions, including young forests that grow vigorously and pull carbon out of the atmosphere at higher rates than older forests. It also focuses on promoting forest health and producing wood products which continue to store carbon in the built environment through homes, buildings, kitchen tables, hardwood floors, and other long-lived wood products.
As stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fiber, or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit.”
Private working forests, including those owned by NAFO members, make up 47% of the overall forest acreage of the U.S. However, private working forests provide outsized carbon benefits, accounting for approximately 80% of the total net carbon sequestration and 51% of the carbon stored in all forests.
Learn more about forests and climate change at www.ForestCarbonDataViz.org.
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Our Policy Priorities
Optimizing Carbon Sequestration
As they grow, forests already capture the equivalent of more than 15% of the nation's annual industrial carbon emissions.
Optimizing and Maintaining Carbon Storage
Most people think about storage only as the massive carbon sink in forests on the landscape. But durable wood products – like homes, buildings, and furniture – store significant amounts of carbon long-term. And as a natural material, forest products are recyclable, biodegradable, and renewable.
Substitution
Forest products – like wood – can displace more fossil fuel-intensive materials, reducing net atmospheric carbon emissions over time.