SEATTLE – Weyerhaeuser marked its first transaction in the voluntary carbon market by inking an agreement to sell nearly 32,000 forest carbon credits at $29 per credit.

The sale represents all credits issued by ACR for the first year of the company's Kibby Skinner Improved Forest Management Project in Maine. Weyerhaeuser said it will immediately retire these credits on behalf of the buyer.

"We are pleased to be delivering our first forest carbon credits from our Maine project," said Russell Hagen, senior vice president and chief development officer for Weyerhaeuser. "This initial sale is an important milestone for Weyerhaeuser and demonstrates our commitment to offering only the highest-quality credits to the market."

Weyerhaeuser is currently developing several IFM projects on select areas within its 11-million-acre land base in the U.S., including two in the U.S. South anticipated to be approved in 2024. The company is working with Carbon Direct, which is providing advisory and marketing services and helping ensure Weyerhaeuser projects meet the Criteria for High-Quality Carbon Dioxide Removal.

"We have been intentional in designing our projects to make certain all credits are of the highest integrity," Hagen says. "All projects we are developing follow three key principles: they must represent real, measurable changes to our business operations to capture additional carbon, deliver long-term climate benefits and be based on a transparent methodology. We believe these principles are essential to help build a trusted market. And given our unmatched portfolio and expertise at Weyerhaeuser, we are uniquely positioned to scale our credit offerings as companies increasingly look to reduce and offset their emissions and reach their net-zero commitments."  

Weyerhaeuser owns or controls approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manages additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company is also one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in North America. In 2022, Weyerhaeuser generated $10.2 billion in net sales and employed approximately 9,200 people.