The principle of carbon compensation is simple to understand: the polluter subsidizes goals that recycle carbon and are often related to forests, as trees absorb CO2. However, the low-carbon label that the French Government has installed on the plant is more recent, which gives a specific target a certificate in order to benefit from this funding. “It contributes to the ecological transition at territorial level, rewarding virtuous behaviors,” can be read on the website of the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition. The first objective that the label of the French state has had is that of the cooperative Sugarai Egur, located in the Hergarai Valley.

On the eve of the G7 summit on 24 August, representatives of the Hergarai Valley met with Emmanuel Macron in Biarritz to present the Sugarai project. Finally, the organisation of the G7, to compensate for some of the carbon emissions that the Heads of State have deposited with their aircraft, etc., during the summit time, will help the cooperative located in Mendibe to plant trees, among other things.

The aid will be directed towards three objectives: next month it will start to create a forest in an unused land; on the other hand, trees will be replanted in the forests and in the areas that have been degraded; and, finally, in the forests that are not dense or managed, everything that is not bad will be taken out of there to allow trees to rest that are useful.

Bad logic, good help

Carbon compensation is not a good logic, according to Peio Harluxet, manager of the Sugarai cooperative: “Normally, the Government should require polluting companies and actions to be identified for other outlets to prevent pollution.” On the road taken by the Hergarai Bizi association, starting from the selviculture to the sale of wood for energy, a very different logic is being worked on, according to his own words: “We do everything in an extremely short series, managing the forest well as it is being done; we are not in that logic of compensation.”

Compensation, on the one hand, and money from the G7 summit, on the other. There was a debate among over a hundred members of the cooperative, according to Harluxet: “Knowing where that money comes from, whether it should be accepted or not. But we are prepared to accept it, because we do not lose our values, we will continue to work on our work. If it were a payment, I was sure we wouldn’t accept that money.”

The objective to be supported will be located in forest areas that will be viable for at least three decades, and Sugarai has announced that during that period, according to his calculations, it would “compensate” 5,000 tons of carbon. In addition to financing the organisation of the G7 summit, the cooperative will have the patronage of other companies such as the gas stations Adecco, La Poste, Sedepa and Agour, through a low-carbon label.

The aid that Sugarai will have is the first officially known aid, although it may also be different. The ONF structure that manages public forests, for example, provides for trees to be planted in about 250 hectares that were burned in a fire in the Hauze forest with funding from the G7 organisers. The media has also mentioned the association Gale Beltza of Euskal Herria, but President Fred Forsans has assured that it is not known: “Our name comes out in the press, but we don’t know about that subsidy.”

The confusion may have been caused by a broader objective of Sugarai. A project started three years ago had a budget of EUR 1 million to share it in four branches: the management of the forest, a transformation center for the valuation of wood (made by Sugarai), the purchase of forestry material that does not crush the margins for its mutualization with other companies, and the latter, linked to the black bee. Peio Harluxet: “There are serious problems with the black bee, as we do not manage the forest or crush the home in a vulgar way. That project is on its way, but we have not included it in the priorities. We see it as an indirect consequence of what we are going to do. We're not going to get the black bee back in; we're going to get the housing ready."

Unchanged values

In the areas of the Sugarai cooperative, roughly two-thirds are private forests. But in the shareholders or participants of a structure that has a status of collective interest, besides people and private companies, there are also associations, among others, the houses of twelve towns and the Basque College (successively Donibane Garazi and Baigorri). “To preserve and develop our values, it was important that each one had a vote, even if it was a very important participation,” added Harluxet, explaining the cooperative’s trajectory: each one has a single voice in the general meetings, regardless of the number of actions it has.

This trajectory is adequate to “guarantee” their values, in the words of the manager. Among these values, the sustainable management of the forest occupies a prominent place. In the report presented to find the low-carbon label, Harluxet considers that the previous trajectory has been taken into consideration: “We were so convinced that we were on our line and that our work tool was already there and we were very prepared, as at the level of France Sugarai has been the first project that has been labelled.” The cooperative notes in a report, referring to the label, that: “The objectives of the Low Carbon Label undergo a neutral analysis of its actual contribution and a rigorous, professional and independent evaluation.”

In its beginnings, the work tool created by citizens has been developing since 2015. The creation and development of wood, the assessment of forest resources in the short circuit, the creation of Hergarain's jobs and the provision of an additional regime for forest owners, habitual farmers, were the objectives pursued. Today, chopped wood or plates are sold with two workers and volunteers for collective and industrial heaters, and normal pieces of wood for private individuals. The logic is to manage the forest in the long term, and with the new economic input, to prefer the types of local trees in the new plantations.

With regard to these values, Harluxet points out the new aid: “We recognize that we guarantee a little the image of others doing that, but I think we accept and do not lose our values.”