The European Commission yesterday (25 February) ruled out binding EU-wide sustainability criteria for biomass, offering member states recommendations for national action instead.
The European Commission said the wide variety of biomass feedstocks make it impossible to devise a harmonised scheme, which would require taking into account their varying potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It also said that the environmental risks related to domestic biomass production "are currently low" and do not require specific EU rules.
According to the Russian State Statistics Service, in 2009 export volume of timber and pulp and paper products from Russia decreased by 15.4%, which can be explained by significant decline in supplied volume of unprocessed timber.
Export from the RF in Jan-Dec 2009 compared to Jan-Dec 2008
(data provided by custom statistics service, incl. data of the Republic of Belarus)
One of these days I hope to write a blog about accompanying a Nature Conservancy scientist in exploring an isolated forest cove in Tennessee and discovering a graceful new orchid species growing near the entrance of a cave.
One of these days…but for now, I work on public policy for the Conservancy, so adventure for me is doing things like exploring what’s actually down in the weeds of the federal budget, and there is, in fact, some very cool stuff in the budget proposed by President Obama for 2011.
"Protecting the world's forests is not a luxury – it is a necessity," said Secretary Vilsack. "This substantial commitment," he said, "is reflective of our recognition that international public finance must play a role in developing countries' efforts to slow, halt and reverse deforestation."
German carbon consultancy Forest Carbon Group AG last week took a 30% stake in Canadian project developer ERA Carbon Offsets, and for reasons many will find surprising. Number one on the list: anticipation of growing demand for forestry offsets among German voluntary buyers, who have traditionally been leery of non-industrial offsets.
Seattle, USA--February 23, 2010--Over the past few years, there has been a rapid, worldwide expansion in the consumption of renewable energy by the pulp and paper industry. Numerous pulp and paper plants have made the strategic decision to invest in the equipment needed to make the switch from fossil fuels to woody biomass fuels. Global consumption of biomass increased by 51% between 2006 and 2009, according to an analysis done with FisherSolve™ (Fisher International).
Europe’s research driven clusters in sustainable forest management and wood based industries will get new co-operation opportunities within the ROKFOR project starting today, 23 February. This cooperative action project ‘Sustainable Forest Management Providing Renewable Energy, Sustainable Construction and Bio-based Products’ (ROKFOR) will join forces in which five European regions in order to create both individual and regional research agendas and action plans in the fields of renewable energy, bio-based products and sustainable construction.
TORONTO, Feb. 23, 2010 /CNW/ - Allen Chan, Chairman & CEO of Sino-Forest Corporation (TSX:TRE), a leading commercial forest plantation operator in China, was presented a "2009 China Forestry Persons of the Year" Award by the China National Forestry Industry Association and the China National Forest Products Industry Association in January, 2010.
The Obama Administration announced today that it wants to close the non-existent "Son of Black Liquor" loophole to help "pay" for new healthcare legislation.
A few hours later, Senate Democrats won a key vote on jobs legislation that, in some versions, would be paid for partly with the "savings" from closing the same mythical loophole.
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 24, 2010 (RISI) - It's taken the industry a while to come round to the idea of hedging when it comes to market pulp, but there's an increasing recognition that anything which helps to secure a more stable pricing environment for pulp has to be a good thing, for both supplier and buyer alike. The volatility of the price cycle has done significant damage to the share value of the industry over the years and cyclicality is unlikely to go away in a commodity market which is driven by supply and demand.
