On 6 November, a wide range of actors in forestry and sustainability gathered at the prestigious Operaterrassen to participate in the conference ‘Swedish carbon credit market – what will be the role of the forest?’, organised by the certification company Carbon Capture Company.
The event attracted over 100 people and was moderated by the experienced Sverker Olofsson. The conference marked the launch of the new Carbon Forestry Standard – Sweden (CFS), developed to certify carbon sequestration in Swedish forests.
‘Finally, there is a standard that takes into account Swedish forests and active forestry,’ says Tomas Lundmark, CEO of the Carbon Capture Company and one of the speakers at the conference.
The day started with a global perspective on carbon credits and the voluntary carbon credit market, via video link, by Robert Höglund, CEO of Marginal Carbon, from Bangkok, followed by Frida Sund Falkevik from the European Commission DG CLIMA in Brussels, who presented the EU policy on carbon credits – the ‘Carbon Removal Certification Framework’.
Via link from Bangkok, Robert Höglund, CEO of Marginal Carbon and independent expert on negative emissions.
After reviewing the international framework for the voluntary carbon credit market, Tomas Lundmark presented the main focus of the conference – the new Swedish model for certification of carbon credits from actively managed forests, which in short is based on managing the entire forest stock so that the timber stock increases and persists. The Carbon Capture Company then verifies and issues credits based on carbon capture.
This was followed by Västerås Stift, who shared their experiences of climate certification under the new standard. They explained that the transition of Västerås Diocese’s forestry not only leads to increased forest growth in the future, but also creates opportunities to issue and broker carbon credits to companies and organisations. Anneli Lundmark, Project Manager at Nordic Natural Capital, spoke about this. She explained how Nordic Nature Capital supports forest owners in becoming climate certified and helps with the sales process of issued carbon credits to end customers.
Carbon credits – one of many tools in the toolbox
The afternoon session offered company insights from Linda Andersson, CEO of Derome Timber, who explained that the high quality of Swedish forest credits is crucial when investing in carbon credits as part of their sustainability work. Johan Jacobsson, Climate Director at PwC, then spoke about the significant role of carbon credits in companies’ goal-setting work.
The conference concluded with voices from the political arena, with Kjell-Arne Ottosson from Kristdemokraterna and Mats Green from Moderaterna. They emphasised the importance of letting the market come up with solutions to complement the climate goals.
Very satisfied with the day
The organisers summed up the day as a success, which was reflected in the lively discussions during lunch and coffee breaks. The atmosphere remained long after the conference had ended, and if the Operaterrassen had not had an additional event planned for the evening, the discussions would probably have continued even longer.
Lively discussions during the lunch break. Photo: Jonas Hessman.
Would you like to read the presentations from the day?
Contact Tomas Lundmark, tomas.lundmark@carboncapturecompany.se
