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A major NSW forestry consultation has highlighted the Tumut region’s importance to Australia’s softwood processing industry, while revealing divisions over forest management and bushfire resilience. Source: Tumut and Adelong Times The NSW government last week published its Independent Forestry Panel Stakeholder Consultation Report, a step towards the development of a Forest Industry Action Plan (FIAP). The panel received written submissions from over 1500 individuals and 160 organisations representing a cross-section of the timber industry, environmental groups, researchers, residents and businesses from regional NSW and others, guided by six prompts based around areas to be ad-dressed in the FIAP. While the report focuses primarily on native forest harvesting, it also addresses the softwood industry in the Snowy Valleys and across the state. It groups Tumut within its Coastal (Southern) forestry region, which it described as Australia’s most concentrated softwood processing area. The report identified several shared objectives across submissions, including bushfire resilience however, stakeholders differed on how forests should be managed to achieve that. “Some [say] that timber harvesting, salvage logging, and silviculture techniques like thinning reduce bushfire risks and others [say] that harvesting, salvage logging and thinning all increase bushfire frequency and intensity,” the report reads. “Despite that divergence, the submissions clearly demonstrate a deep shared concern about bushfire risk now and in the future, and that there is urgent need for improved fire policy and management based on empirical evidence and up-to-date scientific consensus.” The report notes different cohorts have different conceptions of what ap-propriate active management of forests for fire resilience is. “Some favour hazard reduction burning and robust fuel load reduction methods … Others caution that this approach only works in some forest types and that a much more nuanced, adaptive and multifaceted approach is needed.” The report noted some stakeholders highlighted “the strong capacity of Forestry Corporation’s staff and other timber industry workers to cost-effectively prepare and respond to bushfire threats as being highly valuable.” “Previous reviews have noted that the Forestry Corporation is a statutory firefighting authority and plays a role in fire management in native forests,” the report said. “Forestry Corporation’s workforce includes trained firefighters who carry out fire mitigation and hazard reduction (including fire trail maintenance, specialist tall tree felling skills), training and maintenance programs, a large fleet of heavy machinery and equipment and supply agreements to enable quick uplift in people, plant and equipment and firefighting response in co-ordination with other agencies.” The Independent Forestry Panel is chaired by Peter Duncan with other panel members Professor Mary O’Kane and Mick Veitch. A ministerial statement from the offices of the minister for agriculture, the minister for energy and climate change, and the minister for environment and heritage thanked all those who made submissions and attended focus groups and stakeholder interviews. “Making this report available to the public is a key step towards modernising forestry in a way that protects biodiversity,” the statement reads. “Following the finalisation of the stakeholder report, the panel has been tasked to produce a considerations report. “This report will accommodate the stakeholder report findings and identify opportunities to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the NSW forestry industry and support jobs, in the context of recent and ongoing changes.” The stakeholder report can be read in full at: https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/cabinet-office/resources/independent-forestry-panel-stakeholder-report

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Timber NSW has lodged a submission to a Senate inquiry lobbying the Federal government, the inquiry is looking at the effectiveness of sanctions against the Russian Federation. The submission is signed by Timber NSW Chief Executive Maree McCaskill. Source: Timberbiz In its submission Timber NSW says it represents the timber and forest products industry in NSW. The membership of Timber NSW comprises sawmillers, plantation owners, harvest and haul contractors in the hardwood industry, and manufacturers who use low-grade hardwood products to produce high-value products for local use and export. The submission is the result of claims that Russian timber is being moved through China and Southeast Asia and that tariffs are not enough to stop this trade. According to the submission, in 2022, Australia imposed a tariff on timber imports from the Russian Federation and on Belarusian timber products. The tariff was an additional 35% on all imports from Russia and Belarus, including timber products, effective from 25 April 2022. The Russian timber industry supplies 63% of China’s softwood lumber imports and the submission states that while tariff measures could act as a deterrent it does not capture timber products that incorporate Russian timber in manufactured goods. The submission states that China is turning Russian logs into engineered wood products with record shipments to Australia, mainly LVL formwork, which represents 40% of the Australian market, and plywood In 2024 Dr Madeline Osborn, Acting Director, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, said that between 15% and 30% of all timber traded globally is potentially illegally logged, and 10% potentially in the Australian market is illegally sourced. Dr Osborn also said that about 25% of products tested had inaccurate species and origin claims. Timber NSW says the government should reference how the EU, UK and the US have improved compliance methodologies regarding timber sanctions. Australia should utilise the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 (Cth) and issue a declaration pursuant to section 10(1)(c), sanctioning Russian-produced timber in both direct and indirect imports. This section authorises the use of the Regulations to make such a restriction, and this might be achieved by amending the Autonomous Sanctions (Import Sanctioned Goods – Russia) Designation 2022 by the addition of the words “Item 17 Timber and timber products directly or indirectly sourced from Russia.” This inquiry will accept public submission until 12 June and report by 20 August.  It is expected that other associations in the timber trade will also make submissions in the near future. The full submission can be downloaded here.

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Timber Towns Victoria met with six Political parties in Victoria this week calling for pre-election commitments on three policies, one of which proves technology that has already detected 90 unplanned fires across Victoria in two seasons. Source: Timberbiz Timber Towns Victoria met with representatives this week from the National, Liberal, Labor, One Nation, Shooters and Fishers, and Libertarian parties at the Victorian Parliament, presenting a three-priority 2026 Government Brief ahead of the state election on November 28 this year. TTV’s priority ask is calling for multi-year funding commitments for rural road repairs and dedicated funding for freight-critical bridge upgrades, citing accelerated deterioration across key regional corridors under heavier freight loads and more frequent severe weather events. TTV President Cr Karen Stephens said roads were vital for the freight network as logs could not be moved by rail due to the rural spread of plantation areas. “We ask for a commitment to strengthening Victoria’s regional transport network by in-creasing roads and bridges maintenance funding, and prioritising long-term, durable solutions that support community safety and economic resilience,” Cr Stephens said. TTV also wants a statewide expansion of AI-enabled fire detection cameras. The network has already detected almost 90 unplanned fires across Victoria over the past two fire danger seasons — 40 in 2023-24 and 46 in 2024-25. In South Australia, the same system has detected almost 90 fires since rollout across more than one million hectares, with 90 per cent of coverage extending beyond plantations into surrounding communities. The data was provided to TTV by the Victorian Forest Products Association (VFPA) and the Green Triangle Fire Alliance (GTFA), which manages the network across both states. Cr Stephens said regional communities were looking for firm commitments. “We ask for a commitment to supporting a safer Victoria through expanded fire camera coverage, modern AI-enabled detection systems, and long-term funding that protects communities, forests, and regional industries,” she said. The technology uses AI, ultra-HD 360-degree cameras and satellite data to detect smoke and ignition points continuously across large landscapes, with all alerts verified by human analysts before dispatch. Despite the proven results, Victorian coverage remains uneven, operational funding is inconsistent, and integration with the CFA, FFMVic and the SES is limited. TTV also wants a statewide expansion, sustainable operational funding, and a fully integrated fire intelligence system connecting camera feeds with emergency services across all agencies. On forest policy, TTV is calling for Victoria’s state policy settings to align with the Australian Government’s Timber Fibre Strategy, providing the coordinated framework that plantation investors, processors and regional employers need to plan and grow with confidence. TTV will be seeking a formal response from all six parties on each priority ahead of the state election. “We ask for a commitment to develop a whole-of-government forestry and fibre growth strategy to include streamlining planning and environmental approvals for plantation and processing projects, supporting investment in engineered timber and advanced wood manufacturing, and embedding forestry and fibre in Victoria’s climate and housing strategies,” Cr Stephens said.  

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The effects of the Iran war on the oil market have brought renewed attention to the EU’s plans for domestic production of fossil-free aviation fuels. But EU rules for synthetic aviation fuels risk steering development towards production pathways that are both more expensive and more energy-intensive than necessary – making it harder to meet climate targets. This is shown in a recent study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, that has analysed different methods for producing synthetic methanol. Last year, rules were introduced requiring a minimum blend of 2% sustainable aviation fuel at EU airports. This blending requirement will increase gradually, reaching at least 70% by 2050. By then, half of the sustainable aviation fuel must consist of a category known as RFNBO: Renewable Fuel of Non-Biological Origin. These are synthetic fuels, also known as electrofuels, produced from renewable hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology now show that the RFNBO rules favour a “detour” in the production of synthetic fuels, which risks increasing both costs and energy use. “Regulations influence not only industry’s investments in technology, but also which research and development priorities are pursued. Instead of driving innovation towards the most efficient solutions, we risk locking ourselves into less resource-efficient production methods,” said Henrik Thunman, Professor of Energy Technology at Chalmers and co-author of the scientific article. Thousands of new plants will be needed globally to meet the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuels in the coming decades. This will require very large investments in facilities with long operating lifetimes. Big differences between alternative pathways for the same product using the same raw material The research team at Chalmers has studied the production of synthetic methanol, which is an example of a fuel molecule that can be converted into sustainable aviation fuel. It provides a representative case for analysing how different production pathways affect resource use in the production of such fuel molecules. These energy-rich molecules can be produced by combining carbon atoms and hydrogen in chemical processes. In the study, the researchers compared three different production pathways for methanol in which the carbon atoms come from biomass – so-called biogenic carbon. Two of the methods are based on biomass combustion, where carbon dioxide is captured from flue gases and then mixed with hydrogen produced separately using electricity. The third is based on gasification, where heated biomass is converted directly into synthesis gas, which contains both carbon and hydrogen. All three production pathways are technically feasible, and both the raw material and the final product can be the same. However, they differ clearly in terms of energy use, cost and electricity demand. “The gasification pathway proved to be the most resource-efficient option in our analysis, with up to 46%  lower production cost and 30% lower electricity demand than the two combustion-based alternatives. The difference shows how large the energy losses can be when biomass is first combusted into carbon dioxide, which is then rebuilt into fuel molecules using large amounts of electricity and hydrogen,” said Johanna Beiron, researcher in Physical Resource Theory at Chalmers and first author of the article. Despite this, combustion is favoured much more strongly than gasification by the EU regulatory framework. The RFNBO category, which is expected to expand from close to zero today to 35 percent of all aviation fuel in the EU by 2050, includes all fuel from the combustion-based alternatives, but excludes around half of the fuel produced via gasification. The reason is that RFNBO fuels may not be produced using energy and carbon atoms that come directly from biomass, as they largely do in gasification-based production. In contrast, it is permitted to use carbon atoms from biomass in combustion-based routes, provided this is done by capturing the carbon dioxide formed when biomass is used for other energy purposes. One example is the combustion of residual material from the forest industry in combined heat and power plants. But such residual material can be used more resource-efficiently through gasification. “One of the combustion-based alternatives we analysed was the process in combined heat and power plants,” said Ms Beiron. “It has lower cost and energy efficiency than gasification, even when we include the additional electricity needed to replace, for example, the district heating that the combustion process can contribute.” One purpose of the RFNBO classification is to stimulate increased generation of renewable electricity for the production of green hydrogen, and to reduce dependence on biomass, which is a limited resource. But the carbon atoms for synthetic aviation fuel must come from somewhere. Biomass is expected to be the least costly fossil-free carbon source for RFNBO production, and the researchers expect that today’s regulatory framework will result in a very high demand for carbon dioxide from biomass combustion. Instead of reducing the need for biomass, the EU regulations risk driving a less energy-efficient use of the limited biomass resource. “The regulatory framework does not account sufficiently for how efficiently different systems use energy and resources,” said Mr Thunman. “The study therefore highlights a structural issue in EU energy and industrial policy: regulation risks working against its own objectives when definitions of sustainable fuels are not aligned with fundamental energy principles or with the Union’s broader ambitions for resource efficiency.” The researchers hope that their results will contribute to greater knowledge about the technologies and systems that are available. “It is surprising that EU rules do not provide clearer incentives for the most efficient alternatives,” said Ms Beiron. “The current regulatory framework risks causing lock-in to combustion-based energy systems, even though technically mature processes already exist that would provide both lower energy use and lower cost – such as gasification and electrification of district heating.” “Our study shows that some parts of the regulatory framework probably need to be adjusted if the EU is to achieve its long-term goals,” said Mr Thunman. “Better coordination is needed between climate targets, resource efficiency and industrial feasibility in order to address the uncertainty that currently exists. This uncertainty makes it difficult to make rational investment decisions […]

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