Forest Products Industry

The Senate has made a political decision to allow the Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) Method, which credits carbon for reducing or ending timber harvesting in native forests, to stand. The vote reflects the environmental ideologies that drive Australian politics. The decision does not settle the question of the Method’s integrity, nor does it verify that the maths adds up. For more than a year, Forestry Australia has raised detailed technical concerns through multiple channels about how the INFM Method calculates carbon abatement. We have the analysis that supports those concerns and have offered to work constructively with government and stakeholders to resolve the problems. Our members include some of Australia’s foremost forest carbon experts. Their independent analysis identified material accounting concerns. None were addressed in the Senate debate, and none have yet been fixed. The maths and integrity of the INFM Method should have formed the basis of the decision, but the long-standing and highly emotive debate about native forest harvesting ultimately prevailed. The problem is that a politically convenient outcome, such as ending native forest timber harvesting, does not automatically create a genuine carbon credit. Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) are the currency of climate policy. Businesses buy them to meet obligations or offset emissions. Governments rely on them to help meet Australia’s emissions targets. Landholders and investors make long-term decisions based on their value. If an ACCU says one tonne of carbon abatement has occurred, the system must be able to demonstrate that one tonne really has occurred. The Greens announced their support for INFM under the headline “Real pollution cuts, not accounting tricks,” while simultaneously announcing opposition to a Bill intended to strengthen the governance, transparency and integrity of the ACCU scheme and announcing an intention to disallow a private land method that has been transparently developed through many years of co-design involving scientists, agricultural organisations, carbon practitioners, conservation organisations, governments and land managers. At the same time, they have supported an INFM Method that has lacked transparent pro-cess, was not developed with forestry experts and has material technical issues that re-main unanswered. The irony is difficult to miss. Poor-quality credits have consequences. If an ACCU overstates the carbon benefit achieved in a forest, a real tonne of emissions elsewhere in the economy may be offset by something less than a real tonne of abatement. Further, large volumes of inexpensive, over-credited ACCUs can also suppress the car-bon price and make it harder for genuinely additional projects, including new plantations, environmental plantings, farm forestry and landscape restoration, to attract in-vestment. These are investments Australia desperately needs. We should be designing carbon markets that help put more forests and trees into the landscape, improve the condition and resilience of existing forests and support land-holders willing to undertake genuine additional action. For that to happen, investors need confidence that an ACCU means what it says. The Senate vote is over, but the Government still has an opportunity to fix the INFM method before significant volumes of credits enter the market. Ultimately this debate should not be about whether someone supports timber harvesting, national parks, farmers, fossil fuel companies or any particular political party. It should come down to the very simple principle that one ACCU represents one genuine tonne of carbon abatement, that carbon methods are designed transparently and with independent expert verification, and that they meet this expectation before projects start. On INFM, Australia has not yet demonstrated that it does. Dr Michelle Freeman, President, Forestry Australia

The post Opinion: Dr Michelle Freeman – INFM is not a settled question appeared first on Timberbiz.

Comact, a global leader in high-performance OEM wood processing technologies, has announced the launch of Comact Cutting Solutions, bringing together Smith Sawmill Service, Oleson Saw Technology, Checkmate Precision Cutting Tools, and the proprietary BLADE brand under a common organizational identity. Customers will continue to work with these established brands as they do today, with each maintaining its unique identity, expertise, products, and customer relationships.

Comact Cutting Solutions was created to reflect the collaboration that already exists across these businesses. While each brand will continue to operate under its own name, customers will benefit from access to a broader range of products, expertise, and resources backed by Comact’s OEM knowledge of the complete sawmill.

“Bringing these businesses together within Comact Cutting Solutions reflects how we work with our customers: as one team focused on the performance of their entire cutting operation,” said Dustin Norris, Vice President of Comact Cutting Solutions. “Our expertise goes beyond the cutting tools themselves. We work alongside customers to address operational challenges and improve cutting performance, backed by Comact’s deep understanding of mill operations.”

The Comact Cutting Solutions portfolio includes circular saws, bandsaws, knives, guides, filing room equipment, consumables, and related products. The organization also partners with ISELI, a global leader in precision machinery and technology for professional filing room operations, and serves as the exclusive ISELI dealer in the United States.

Customers will continue to work with the same brands, companies, and teams they know today, with Comact Cutting Solutions bringing together complementary expertise, products, and resources – all backed by Comact’s OEM expertise. For more information about Comact Cutting Solutions, visit ComactCuttingSolutions.com.

Dustin Norris, Vice President of Comact Cutting Solutions

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The post COMACT UNITES CUTTING EXPERTISE THROUGH A PORTFOLIO OF ESTABLISHED BRANDS appeared first on International Forest Industries.