misaddressed

Canada Post is currently informing us through a major TV / online public relations campaign, that regular and expedited delivery services within Canada are now carbon-neutral:

For every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) generated by domestic Regular ParcelTM and Expedited ParcelTM deliveries, we remove one tonne of CO2e from the atmosphere by purchasing high-quality, verified and accredited carbon offsets. The environmental projects supported by carbon offset purchases remove the same amount of carbon from the atmosphere generated by parcel delivery.

Canada Post sets out that their carbon offset investments involve preserving a large area of BC coastal lands in the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR):

We are supporting the Great Bear Forest Carbon Project. The project protects forests that were previously available for logging, which conserves and grows existing carbon stocks and reduces emissions caused by harvesting, road building and other forestry operations. The project is wholly owned by a unique alliance of First Nations, creating jobs for the future, and protecting the Great Bear Rainforest.
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However, making payments to indigenous groups for monitoring lands already conserved by government order, does not offset anything. This is especially so in a province where the same government is on a build-more-housing crusade, as their September 18, 2023, news release B.C. moves to increase housing supply, deliver more homes faster confirms.

Where will the timber be felled to provide the materials for this housing blitz? Part of it will still come from the GBR, as set out in the Ministry of Forests June 23, 2023, Great Bear Rainforest Land Use Objectives Order:

In relation to the contribution commercial forestry makes towards human well-being, the intent is to maintain 550,000 hectares of managed forest and an allowable annual cut (AAC) of 2.5 million m3 until December 31, 2026.

Beyond ongoing lumber demand that will still be met within the GBR, timber operations in other parts of the province will gear up. In the carbon offset world this is called leakage, as discussed in a recent story from The Conversation titled 'Worthless' forest carbon offsets risk exacerbating climate change:

Carbon credits also face other challenges, one of the biggest being “leakage” or displacement of deforestation. Leakage may occur because the people who were cutting down the forest simply relocate to a different area. Alternatively, demand for food or timber that was fuelling deforestation in one place may be met by deforestation elsewhere – perhaps on the other side of the world. Another problem is ensuring that the forests are protected in perpetuity so that reduced deforestation represents permanent removal of carbon from the atmosphere.

At the same time that tax-supported Canada Post money is being wasted on virtuous leakage, the Crown Corporation is racking up operating losses that would put their competitors out of business. According to Canada Post - 2022 Financial Results:

In 2022, the Canada Post segment recorded a loss before tax of $548 million, as growing competition in the parcel delivery sector, combined with economic uncertainty and reduced consumer spending, negatively affected parcel volumes and revenue.

The Corporation’s 2022 loss before tax widened by $58 million from a loss before tax of $490 million in 2021.

So instead of addressing an operational fiasco of over $ 1 Billion in losses during the last 2 years, Canada Post continues to throw away carbon offset money, then spends even further on deceitful advertising, purporting that they have acted ethically by covered off their CO2 emissions.
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