Auditor general cites flaws in model that accounts for carbon in B.C.'s forests

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 9:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

A caller study from B.C.'s auditor wide has recovered that immoderate of the Forests Ministry's carbon modelling practices for however c successful B.C. Forests is stored and released were not adequately documented and not transparent.

The audit, which was released Tuesday, said the government's deficiency of a defined methodology to cipher the c payment of wood concern projects had a antagonistic effect connected the credibility of the ministry's reporting.

The Office of the Auditor General besides recovered that transparent and reproducible methods for calculating forest c projections were not utilized for decisions determining the yearly allowable chopped of timber.

Acting Auditor General Sheila Dodds said that the bureau looked astatine wood concern projects and yearly allowable chopped allowances, on with the wood scenery readying program.

Of the 3 areas, Dodds said lone the wood landscaping programme approved by the ministry astatine the extremity of 2024 had an unfastened and accordant plan, for which she had nary recommendations. However, she did inquire for much documentation and transparency successful the different 2 areas.

Dodds said her bureau performed the audit due to the fact that of the value of having reliable accusation connected however c is stored and released successful B.C.'s forests, which she says is captious for wood absorption decisions.

"It's a caller country of science, and truthful it's an evolving area," she told CBC News.

"This is truly conscionable an accidental to accidental ... arsenic a ministry, they tin look astatine defining that standard," she added. "You know, there's acquisition present defining, establishing, that standard."

The auditor general's study says the Forest Ministry uses carbon benefit projections in briefing notes and property releases, to acceptable targets for aboriginal wood investments and to comparison them with goals acceptable by the ministry successful its yearly reports.

Dodds says the B.C. Forests Ministry has accepted the audit recommendations.

In its effect to the audit, the ministry says decisions to transportation retired histrion planting and fertilization activities are not solely babelike connected a finalized carbon modelling methodology.

"It is expected that the methodology volition beryllium finalized implicit the adjacent 12 months and volition subsequently spell done the due support process," the effect reads, referring to the wood concern program.

"The Ministry's extremity is to person this enactment completed successful the outpouring of 2026."

'Really bully study card'

Greg Paradis, an adjunct prof of wood absorption astatine the University of B.C., said that the Forests Ministry is lone mandated to behaviour c modelling for the wood scenery readying programme — the country that the auditor wide had nary recommendations on.

He said that the auditor general's study seemed to beryllium captious of the optional c modelling conducted for the yearly allowable chopped determinations and the wood concern program, which oversees initiatives similar reforestation, specifically erstwhile it comes to the ministry's methodology and whether it was capable to beryllium replicated.

"They're already going supra and beyond, and they did an imperfect occupation of that," helium told CBC News. "But erstwhile they were constructively criticized by the auditor general's office, they graciously accepted the disapproval and agreed that the proposal was valid and that they were moving towards that."

Paradis said that the study was an illustration of authorities owed process taking its course, and helium work the audit arsenic a "really bully study card" connected B.C.'s c modelling practices.

Gary Bull, a prof emeritus astatine UBC's faculty of forestry, said that it was important for B.C. to align itself with planetary standards erstwhile it comes to c modelling and c markets.

"That's a large quality betwixt us, for example, and the efforts I spot successful Australia and New Zealand, the United States and present successful Brazil, wherever I'm seeing a batch of concern decisions made successful forests based connected c being portion of the fiscal package," helium said. "And we conscionable person not adjacent got adjacent to that."