COLOMBIA – Duratex Colombia received from the ICONTEC the Forest Compensation Certificate for its program “Carvida Duratex, carbon credits for life”. With the delivery of this document, ICONTEC certifies that the Company, thanks to its forest plantations, has captured 956,000 tCO2e (tons of CO2 equivalent) from 2010 to 2017, which makes it to date the largest Forestry Compensation Program of greenhouse gases, from forest crops, in Colombia.

This certification is the product of the work that is carried out in the Company’s plantations and with it what is sought is to contribute to the care of the environment, with the reduction of global warming and, most importantly, to offer the possibility for companies that generate CO2 and polluting gases, such as industries and transport companies, among others, to mitigate and offset their emissions with this type of certificates.

Duratex Colombia, formerly Tablemac, is a company belonging to the Duratex Brasil group. It produces particleboard and MDF panels from wood coming exclusively from forest crops. Its forest assets are certified since 2012 with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) seal and consist of 7,500 hectares of plantations and 3,500 hectares of natural forests, which are protected and respected.

What is a Forest Compensation program?

In 2016, the Colombian government created the carbon tax, through which a tariff is charged to all those who consume fuel and generate CO2 emissions. With this tax, the Government intends to contribute to the emission reduction goals that the vast majority of the world’s countries signed in the 2016 Paris Agreement. In 2017, the Government also creates a mechanism for companies obligated to pay the carbon tax with which they can offset their emissions with different types of projects that capture or reduce CO2 emissions, among which are Forest Compensation programs such as Carvida Duratex. It should be noted that there are other non-forestry projects that can also be used to offset tCO2e, such as hydroelectric plants, solar and wind power plants, among others.