West Fraser Shares Nature Reporting Framework Developed for Alberta Operations
As our understanding of nature-related risks and opportunities continues to evolve, sharing what we learn can help build knowledge across the forest sector.
Alongside the release of our first Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)-aligned report focused on our Alberta operations, West Fraser is sharing the supporting methodology so others across the forest sector can learn from and build on the approach. Developed in collaboration with the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) and supported by our project partners, the methodology provides a practical roadmap for assessing nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities.
“One of the biggest takeaways for us has been gaining a clearer picture of West Fraser’s dependencies on nature — and how that translates into business risks and opportunities. Working through TNFD as early adopters is helping us strengthen how we monitor and measure nature internally, which supports better decisions, stronger practices and meaningful action to protect biodiversity and ecosystems while making communication with stakeholders and investors more transparent.”
Laura Trout, Manager, Biodiversity and Forest Ecology
West Fraser chose to focus this work on our Alberta forest management operations and mills as a starting point. It was an opportunity to test, learn and refine our approach before applying it more broadly across our operations. Our forest management operations represent a direct, on-the-ground relationship with nature; we operate within ecosystems and depend on them.
“This report reflects our early commitment to adopting the TNFD framework in 2026 and is a first for Alberta’s forest sector,” said Shyanne Pasha, Senior Manager, Sustainability Performance, West Fraser. “Our aim was to partner with experts like the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, take a practical, science-based approach and then share the report and the methodology so others can learn from the process.”
The development of the methodology, using West Fraser as a case study, was supported by funding from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA), whose mandate to advance sustainable forest management aligns closely with the goals of this work.
Turning a complex process into a step-by-step roadmap
The NCASI team brought longstanding forest sector research and scientific expertise, as well as familiarity with environmental monitoring datasets. Through its contributions to the methodology development, NCASI helped ensure the approach reflected the realities of Alberta’s forest ecosystems, including the use of data sources that provided the most credible and decision-useful basis for analysis.
“NCASI was pleased to support this important work,” said Kirsten Vice, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Canadian Operations, National Council for Air and Stream Improvement. “Nature-related reporting presents distinct challenges for forest sector companies, particularly when it comes to translating complex ecological data into credible, decision-useful disclosures. Alberta's forest ecosystems carry their own set of nuances, and we believe that kind of context-specific understanding is essential to developing methodologies that hold up to scrutiny. We hope our contribution helped the team navigate that complexity with confidence, and we look forward to continuing to advance this work with our member companies."
Additional support was provided by technology partner Earth Blox and consulting partner Pollination. Earth Blox delivered the geospatial analytics platform and data infrastructure that enabled the complex spatial analysis for the assessment, while Pollination helped translate the geospatial and data analysis into business risks and opportunities aligned with the TNFD disclosure recommendations, and provided overall project management support.
As nature-related disclosures continue to evolve globally, with the International Sustainability Standards Board planning to incorporate nature disclosures in the form of an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Practice Statement, West Fraser is among the leading forest products companies globally to publish a TNFD-aligned nature report. Read the full TNFD report and methodology.
“We’re grateful for the collaboration and support from FRIAA, NCASI and our project partners, whose scientific expertise and contributions were essential to advancing our understanding of meaningful nature reporting for Alberta’s forest product sector,” said Laura Trout.
