Can industry be part of a bio-solution to climate change mitigation? Experts discuss the potential of the global forest products industry

Rome, Italy, November 2, 2006

The global forest products industry can play a significant role in combating climate change by optimizing the use of raw material, increasing efficiency, producing bio-energy and expanding into bio-refinery products while developing the competitiveness of the sector.

This was the conclusion of a meeting in Rome at which intergovernmental and private sector organisations of the global forest product industry joined forces. Participants stressed that well integrated and carefully balanced energy and forest policies around the globe set the stage for these developments. Governments, industry, institutions and society at large each have a role to play and should work together.

The forest products industry is a major consumer of energy, using 6% of total industrial energy use in 2003. But the industry also produces energy, as well as other by-products that can be used for energy generation. It is the only sector that already generates approximately 50% of its own energy needs, the majority from renewable CO2-neutral biomass. Energy costs, energy supply and climate change are amongst the core issues impacting on the future of the forest products industry.

“The forest products Industry can be part of the solution for climate change if committed to technological changes and energy efficiency,” said Neil Hirst, Director of Energy Technology of the International Energy Agency (IEA). “It has the exceptional ability to become a net supplier of a range of energy products and it could, in combination with carbon capture and storage, become an important actor in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere”,

Wulf Killmann, Director of Forest Products and Economics at FAO, said that this potential needs to be tapped. “Governments have a key role to play in encouraging industries to use cleaner and more efficient energy technologies and in promoting bio-energy.”

“Wood and paper products are uniquely renewable and recyclable products that help reducing greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere,” Teresa Presas, chair of the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA), stated. The industry is committed to innovative energy solutions that meet the challenge of climate change, increase efficiency, reduce reliance on fossil fuel and expand the use of renewable energy sources and it believes that fibre from sustainable managed forests makes a positive contribution to the world’s future energy supply.

“To achieve this”, Ms. Presas stated,  “the industry needs enabling policies that support research and innovation, promote demonstration projects and improve the investment climate, specifically in this sector. Moreover there needs to be a level playing field between energy and non-energy uses of wood, considering that all this has to take place within the boundaries of sustainable forest management.”

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) would be glad to see the global forest product industry taking a stronger role in the energy and climate change mitigation field, but also sets some requirements. “WWF considers that sustainable bioenergy has to be part of the global strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other measures aiming to reduce the ecological footprint. Credible certification of bioenergy feedstocks with focus on social and environmental issues - including greenhouse gas calculations - and land use planning are part of the solution to ensure the sustainability of development”, says Duncan Pollard, Director of the WWF Forests for Life Programme.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA), in collaboration with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

During the meeting, ICFPA, FAO, IEA and WWF agreed to continue working together to apply the unique potential of the forest sector to mitigating climate change and increasing energy security. The IEA will report back to the G2 with an analysis as part of the Gleneagles Summit Plan of Action and ICFPA will take forward its global CEO leadership statement on energy and climate change in June 2007 in Shanghai.

Proceedings of the seminar will be posted on FAO’s website at http://www.fao.org/forestry.

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Contacts:

ICFPA
Eleanor McFadden Tel. 3226274926
e.mcfadden@cepi.org

IEA
Cecilia Tam  Tel. 33140576755
cecilia.tam@iea.org

FAO
Cheemin Kwon  Tel. 57054464 
cheemin.kwon@fao.org   

WWF International
László Máthé  Tel. 36305866660 
laszlo.mathe@wwf.hu