Monetizing the Carbon Benefits of Mass Timber to Scale Up Its Deployment in Mid-Rise Housing and Commercial Development: A Pilot in the Metropolitan Boston Area
Project contact is Nicole Knobloch at Olifant (United States)
Summary
This pilot project in the metropolitan Boston area will seek to mobilize a combination of public incentives and private financing to monetize – or bring value to – the carbon benefits of mass timber. The goal is to both encourage early adopters concerned about mass timber’s costs and to bring mass timber construction to the city at a scale and in an ongoing manner that will provide a long-term market for local timber while developing an urban “carbon sink” to attract ongoing private investment for voluntary carbon offsets markets. The project will serve as market development to encourage planned mass timber manufacturing plants to open in New England, as incentive for improved forest management for carbon plans being encouraged by public and private groups in Massachusetts and throughout New England, and as a blueprint for other U.S. cities and states seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase development, and bring value and new forest product manufacturing to surrounding rural, forested areas.
