What is a carbon offset?

A carbon offset is a credit for greenhouse gas reductions achieved by one party that can be purchased and used to compensate (offset) the emissions of another party.

Why?

Faced with challenging timber markets and a public demand for climate solutions, forest managers across North America are generating new revenue streams from forest carbon sequestration projects on their lands. The Community Forest Carbon Offset Program provides an opportunity for FSC^® certified community forests to financially benefit from the sale of carbon stored in their forests.

Aside from helping to combat climate change, the development of carbon offsets will also contribute to a host of other ecosystem benefits such as clean drinking water, health wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities. These benefits will be realized while maintaining a vibrant forest economy.

Types of Carbon Markets

Voluntary

The voluntary carbon market is administered by non-profit registries such as the American Carbon Registry (ACR) and Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Voluntary market projects offer shorter time commitments and more flexible requirements such as:

• No pre-set limits on even-age management, fertilization or age distribution;
• FSC certification often satisfies all forest management requirements;
• Ability to earn-back and sell buffer credits if no reversals occur;
• Buffer and buyout insurance options;
• Baselines determined by common practices, not common stocks; and
• Provisions for partial withdrawal of acreage from project.

Compliance

Compliance carbon markets generating demand for forest carbon offsets are in California and Quebec. This market has been the focus of most forest carbon projects to date because it offers the highest carbon pricing and dependable demand, driven by the compliance needs of large carbon emitters in California and Quebec. Compliance projects have significant eligibility requirements and management restrictions (e.g. clear-cut limits, no broadcast fertilization, diverse native species). Forest owners are required to commit to monitoring, reporting and verifying carbon stocks for 100 years following credit sales, and compensating for any loss of carbon due to management actions. Ontario currently does not have a compliance carbon market.

What are Improved Forest Management Projects?

Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects reward forest owners for committing to sequester more CO₂ than they otherwise could by maintaining sustainable forest management practices over the long term. It allows for sustainable harvesting of wood products. Forests that can demonstrate that carbon stocking in their forests is greater than the regional average are likely to be eligible to participate in the Program. The revenues from the forest carbon would compensate forest owners for making such long-term commitments. This project type offers the greatest benefit to Community Forests.

Partnership with Bluesource Canada

The Model Forest has partnered with Bluesource Canada, a leading developer of forest carbon and other Greenhouse Gas (GHG) offsets to generate carbon offsets for community.

Bluesource Canada, the oldest and largest carbon project developer in North America, has the forestry and market expertise to help evaluate options for the forest owner across carbon markets and project types.

What does the partnership offer?

• Free initial assessment of project opportunity;
• Ongoing support in the evaluation of the opportunity;
• If you choose to proceed with an IFM project, Bluesource will undertake and finance all the work to generate the offsets and monetize them for you in the market;
• The Model Forest will work with Bluesource to reduce the burden of undertaking such projects by:
  • Coordinating the data capture and, where possible, use data already at its disposal;
  • Coordinate the inventory development and 3rd party verification for many opportunities within the EOMF network to reduce the cost to any individual project;
  • To the extent possible, coordinate the on-site work for the IFM project with FSC^® audits to reduce the burden on land owners; and
  • Providing its members with a commercial framework for the development and monetization of the offsets.

Understanding Your Options

To understand whether the opportunity is right for your Community Forest, we can perform an initial assessment of project eligibility and potential economic value. This assessment will provide you with an understanding of the trade-off between potential revenues and long-term commitments that can facilitate a decision on whether to pursue the opportunity.

To learn more about the opportunity please feel free to contact us.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do carbon offset credits work?

It's a concentrated effort to produce less waste and use more renewable energy. After reduction has reached its limit, or its comfortable threshold, carbon offsets can make up for the rest. Carbon offsets are a form of trade. When you buy an offset, you fund projects that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

How many trees are needed to offset carbon?

A tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and can sequester 1 ton of carbon dioxide by the time it reaches 40 years old. That's about 22 kg / yr or 455 kg / lifetime for the Imperial-challenged.

From our first-hand experience with the large-scale ice storm that struck in 1998, to our more recent involvement in helping partners respond to the arrival of the Asian long-horned beetle in the City of Toronto, we realize that the threats to forest health are very real and the consequences potentially devastating for communities.

The EOMF has spearheaded the Forest Health Network (FHN), a network of some 20 organizations and agencies spanning eastern Ontario, western Quebec and northern New York State – rallying partners in a coordinated and collaborative response to forest threats of various kinds.

In support of the FHN, the EOMF is involved in:

• hosting meetings,
• acting as a central repository for the distribution of relevant materials to partners,
• helping to coordinate training for forest practitioners, and
• playing a key role in coordinating the development and delivery of communications and outreach products and activities directed at woodlot owners as well as urban and rural residents. 

Working closely with scientists and experts from both Federal and provincial governments in delivering forest health-related messages to forest industry, rural landowners and urban dwellers also forms an important function of the FHN.

Members of the Forest Health Network

Working on Slowing the Spread of the Emerald Ash Borer

A particular focus for the Forest Health Network has been the slowing of the spread of the emerald ash borer (EAB) across eastern Ontario.  The FHN is playing a critical role in bringing partners together to coalesce around one set of consistent messages about EAB.  Past experience in other jurisdictions has shown that, in the absence of a facilitating or coordinating vehicle such as the FHN, organizations and agencies have struggled to provide consistent messaging to landowners and the public – an inevitable recipe for failure.  The FHN, with EOMF playing a facilitative role, is providing a vital coordinating function – one that is ensuring strategic responses to threats to forest health, and also building capacity within local communities to respond effectively to such threats.

FHN Highlights

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Hectares Certified

The Model Forest is pleased to offer private and community forest owners, throughout Ontario, an affordable, efficient and supportive system to achieve forest certification.

In January 2003, the Model Forest received a Forest Stewardship Council^® (FSC^®) Group Forest Management Certificate (FSC^® C018800). In February 2024, the Model Forest expanded their Certification Program and achieved Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI^®) (SFI-02042) certification. Both certificates are managed by the Model Forest on behalf of private and community forest members. It allows for many forest owners to share in the benefits and costs of certification, under one umbrella.

FSC is an international, membership-based, non-profit organization that supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. FSC has developed a set of Standards, based on 10 core principles and criteria, that ensure sustainable forest management.

SFI is an international, non-profit organization that believes that sustainable forests are critical to our collective future. SFI enacts forest conservation through collaboration in standards, conservation, community, and education with an emphasis on practical solutions demonstrated by progress on the ground.

Forest owners interested in joining the Program must indicate their commitment to managing their forest to one or both of the Certification Standards and the Model Forest Policies and Procedures.

Today, the Model Forest manages a successful and growing Forest Certification Program. The area now certified under the Program totals over 75,500 hectares. This consists of:

• Private forest owners;
• Community forests;
• Commercial forest owners; and
• Maple syrup producers.

Why Forest Certification

Since 2003, a diverse group of private and community forest owners have joined the Program. Over this time, our members have shared why certification is important to them. Here is a sample of what we have heard:

• Provides a framework for forest owners to achieve sustainable forest management that is internationally recognized;
• Provides a supportive and cost-effective approach to achieving forest certification;
• Provides for a high level of public acceptance, through third party verification;
• Provides a credible tool to implement active management, while enhancing the environmental, social and economic benefits from the forest;
• Provides a framework for market ready carbon offset initiatives for community forests;
• Provides for meaningful and respectful Aboriginal engagement and cultural awareness opportunities;
• Protects forest ecosystems and helps fight climate change;
• Raises industry standards.

Your Pathway to Forest Certification

Steps to achieving forest certification for:

• Community and Commercial Forests
• Private Woodlot Owners
• FSC Certified Maple Products

Information on Forest Management

For information on how FSC-certified private woodlot owners in our program are managing their forests, including management planning documents and the protection of high conservation values, please contact the Program Coordinator (contact information below).

To access this information for Community Forests in our program, please contact the Community Forest directly.

Environmental and Social Risk Assessments for chemical pesticides used withing the group can be found here.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

To learn more about our forest Certification Program, please contact Glen Prevost, Program Coordinator at 705-358-7913 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For information on forest certification in Canada visit Certification Canada.

Forest Certification Program - FAQs

We respect the privacy of our members, partners and stakeholders. Our full privacy policy is available HERE.

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Landowners Reached

The EOMF is dedicated to fostering education and awareness relative to sustainable forest management (SFM).  In many ways this work forms the very foundation of the organization.  Together with its extensive network of partners, the EOMF is able to effectively reach a diverse array of audiences, from forestry practitioners and private woodlot landowners, to students, policy makers, and the public at large.  Current education and awareness initiatives of the EOMF include the following:

Kemptville Winter Woodlot Conference
Now in its third decade, this partnership-based event addresses topical issues affecting the forests of eastern Ontario.  The conference has become an important educational and networking event for private woodlot owners, farmers, rural landowners and community forest owners.

December Forest Seminar
Hosted jointly with the Ottawa Valley Section of the Canadian Institute of Forestry, this annual seminar explores some of the many challenges and opportunities that forestry professionals and communities need to navigate in implementing sustainable forest management.    

Indigenous Cultural Values Awareness Training
In conjunction with its Forest Certification Program, the EOMF offers training that builds awareness and appreciation for Indigenous cultural values and knowledge systems as they relate to forest management and governance. 

Guided Forest Management Tours
The EOMF has a rich history of conducting guided tours to showcase sustainable forest management initiatives, catering to technical and professional audiences as well as visiting delegations from abroad.  The tours highlight some of the many impressive and innovative sustainable forest management efforts undertaken by forest managers and private woodlot owners across eastern Ontario. Likewise, they highlight some of the challenges that we can learn from collectively.

Special Projects
The EOMF recently co-produced with Pinegrove Productions a documentary entitled ‘Trees, Youth, Our Future.’  This two-part documentary celebrates the stewardship of forests in eastern Ontario and beyond.  Screenings of the documentary are underway with the help of the EOMF’s network of partners.  The documentary serves as an example of a Special Project.  

Learn more about this documentary and watch the videos.