Page 20 - Georgia Forestry - Issue 3 - Summer 2023

A Formula for SUCCESS
GFC’s new Deputy Director Johnny Sabo (foreground)
joins Jamestown LP’s Troy Harris (left), GFC Director Tim Lowrimore (right) and other carbon committee members for a tour of the mass timber construction project at 619 Ponce.
Georgia’s Experts Work to Expand the Carbon Registry
BAy Stasia Kelly
fternoon rush hour on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta didn’t look any different to the harried drivers below, but at Ponce
City Market, a special graduation of sorts was in progress. A group of hard hat-clad forestry, academic and business leaders was touring the Jamestown LP mass timber building now under construction.
“It was a very special evening,” said Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) Chief of Utilization Devon Dartnell
Tackling the challenge was up to the Sustainable Building Material Techni- cal Advisory Committee (SBMTAC), created at the direction of the Georgia Legislature in 2021. The eight-member committee was charged with enhancing Georgia’s existing carbon registry (estab- lished in 2004) to enable the tracking of carbon stored in commercial construc- tion projects throughout the state. A pri- mary objective of SBMTAC was to ensure the compatibility of carbon credits issued with global carbon markets, including establishing guidelines for determining a carbon baseline, additionality, verifica- tion and permanence. The formulas and systems designed were to be written so that builders and real estate developers would be encouraged to utilize sustain- able building materials that store more carbon and emit fewer greenhouse gases.
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about the sunset tour of 619 Ponce and the following celebratory dinner. “These people had given so much of their time and talent; it was rewarding to salute them for their work.”
That work involved a year of meetings, research, Teams calls and complex con- versations about carbon. Specifically, a formula for how carbon can be captured by healthy forestlands and embedded into construction products for the ulti- mate protection of the environment. It wasn’t easy.