Maroc - TIMBERBIZ.COM.AU - A La Une - 19/Sep 00:17

AFPA agrees with government on emission targets

The Australian Forest Products Association has welcomed the Federal Government’s acknowledgement that its decision to pursue a 62-70% below 2005 level emission reduction target by 2035 cannot be achieved without the contribution of the forestry sector’s entire supply chain. Source: Timberbiz “We acknowledge the Government’s sector plans announced alongside the new 2035 target, especially the Agriculture and Land Sector Plan and Built Environment Sector Plan, which point to enormous opportunities for forestry to be an essential part of the decarbonisation solution,” Chief Executive Officer of AFPA, Diana Hallam said. “We will engage with the Commonwealth to ensure forestry, and its supply chain can help meet the Government’s targets, with the biggest possible.” Ms Hallam said that by using timber in new homes and buildings to displace carbon intensive construction materials, wood-fibre based packaging instead of plastics, paper and tissue products, power poles and even garden and mulch products alongside production trees absorbing carbon as they grow, the forestry sector would help Australia’s national economy decarbonise while providing essential employment and economic contributions for the nation. “We will work specifically with the Albanese Government on existing initiatives like the Support Plantation Establishment Program (SPEP), the continued and necessary contribution from sustainable native forestry and how industry and the government can partner through the processing and manufacturing cogs of our supply chain, as the country works towards net zero,” Ms Hallam said. “Australia’s former Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb said it best on the release of the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) review, stating, ‘the only pathway known to science that has immediate capacity to remove greenhouse gases, particularly CO2 from the atmosphere is photosynthesis’. Australia’s sustainable forestry sector grows, processes and manufactures trees into a range of essential products locking up carbon at scale.”