Forest Products Industry Puts Government on Notice; Calls for Early Action on Climate Change
April 24 2007, Ottawa, ON
Forest Products Industry Increased Production by 20% and Achieved GHG Reductions 7 Times Kyoto Targets
Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) will address the Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources today as part of its study of Bill C-288, An Act to ensure Canada meets its global climate change obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. He will call on the government to use 1990 as its base year for calculation of emissions reductions because anything less sends a message to good corporate citizens that environmental responsibility is not recognized and is indeed penalized by making it more advantageous to wait for regulation.
Mr. Lazar will also detail how the volume of production in the forest products has increased by 20% since 1990 during which time the industry also made dramatic improvements in its overall efficiency, reducing emissions intensity per output of production by 54%.
“The industry’s environmental improvements come as a result of massive retooling, reinventing its energy model by switching from fossil fuels to clean, renewable biomass energy and transforming itself from one of Canada’s largest industrial energy users towards its ultimate goal of being a net source of green power,” said Lazar.
Over the past decade, the industry has invested over $24 billion in facility upgrades and innovative processes in a continued effort to improve its environmental performance, limit its impact on climate change, and enhance its global competitiveness. The industry currently generates 60% of its own energy using green, renewable fuels and there is a tremendous amount of new technology in the works that points to the potential increase in that number to 100%.
Mr. Lazar will also discuss the clean air and environmental benefits of retooling which have also been dramatic. FPAC members have not only reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 44% (7 times Kyoto baseline targets without the use of offsets), they have also reduced consumption of fossil fuels by 45%, improved air quality by 60%, and reduced what they send to landfill by 40%.
Finally, Mr. Lazar will share what the industry hopes to see in upcoming emissions regulations, “The lesson to be learned from the experience of the forest products industry is that fundamental retooling of industry processes is critical to any climate change strategy,” added Lazar. “FPAC members did not wait to be regulated, deciding instead to move early on climate change and clean air because they made sense from both an environmental and a competitiveness perspective. And while we are proud of our record in reducing emissions, and determined to go even further, we hope that the government will recognize those industries like the forest products industry that acted early to reduce their emissions.”
FPAC is the voice of Canada’s wood, pulp and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade and environmental affairs. Canada’s forest industry is an $80 billion dollar a year industry that represents 3% of Canada’s GDP. The industry is one of Canada’s largest employers, operating in over 320 Canadian communities and providing nearly 900,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country.
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For more information, contact:
Isabelle Des Chênes
Director, Communications
Forest Products Association of Canada
(613) 563-1441 ext: 323
ideschenes@fpac.ca
