The objective of this effort is to develop a bi-national standard to measure carbon from forestry activities that is environmentally sound, scientifically based, and economically feasible. A technical committee has been formed, made up of forest carbon experts and stakeholders, to develop forest carbon accounting rules under consensus standards development procedures accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC). The new consensus standards will bring together existing and emerging protocols from state, provincial, regional, and national climate policies and programs to create a single set of forest carbon accounting rules that can be broadly applied in sustainably managed forests and long-term forest products in the U.S. and Canada.

Organizers:
• American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)
• Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC)
• Society of American Foresters (SAF)
• Canadian Institute of Forestry – Institut forestier du Canada (CIF/IFC)

Status:
The committee determined, in early 2011, to put the standard development process on hold. After completing an initial draft standard, it was clear that key issues remained unresolved. The first and only formal ballot of the standard was recorded in August 2009.  Thirty-two members, or sixty-two percent of the Committee, voted.  The standard received nine affirmative votes (28%), twenty one negative votes, and two members abstained.   A fifty percent response rate and two thirds affirmative vote is needed to be successful.  Comments received during balloting indicated that several significant issues remained unresolved.  In light of these barriers to consensus and a changing regulatory and legislative environment, the committee elected to put the NAFCS standard development process on hold.   The document on this site is the balloted document and, therefore, does not address the concerns that resulted in a vast majority of negative votes.  The decision to put the standard on hold can be re-evaluated in the future should policy needs and priorities change.  For more information, please contact Tom Adams at Tom_Adams@afandpa.org.

AF&PA, an ANSI-accredited standards development organization, is the secretariat for this effort.