New CSIRO research into Australia’s carbon sequestration, states forestry currently provides ‘significant potential’ to help Australia meet its climate goals, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Forest Products Association Ross Hampton said today. Source: Timberbiz
The report, prepared for the Climate Change Authority with co-funding from the Clean Energy Regulator, looks at a range of carbon sequestration options for supporting Australia’s national emissions reduction goals.
In this report, carbon sequestration describes the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere; and the management of existing carbon stocks, using natural or engineered solutions.
Co-lead author of the report, CSIRO Towards Net Zero Mission Lead Michael Battaglia, said the report brought together scientists with expertise across a range of nature-based and engineered sequestration technologies, to look at their sequestration potential, barriers to uptake, and co-benefits.
The technologies reviewed were permanent plantings, plantation and farm forestry, natural regeneration of native forest, avoided land clearing, savannah burning, soil carbon, blue carbon, pyrolysis biochar, geological storage (carbon capture and storage), bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture (DAC), and mineral carbonation.
“We found that nature-based technologies such as permanent plantings, plantation and farm forestry, and soil carbon currently provide significant potential; as does Australia’s vast geological storage capacity,” Dr Battaglia said.
Mr Hampton said that Australia’s forest industries would be a major driver behind reducing Australia’s carbon emissions and achieving the Government’s net-zero goals, and the report had highlighted that potential.
“Demand for sustainably produced timber and wood fibre products is increasing rapidly, and growing more trees nationally, supported by a job rich industry, is the best way to help Australia reduce emissions while producing a supply chain for essential products, from house frames to printing paper,” Mr Hampton said.
“As production trees grow, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere and when they’re harvested, they lockup that carbon in the sustainable products their timber and wood-fibre produce,” he said.
“Commonwealth funding is assisting vital growth in forestry, but we still don’t have enough trees to meet our future demand which is why it’s essential Australia meets the billion new trees by 2030 goal.
“We welcome this recognition of forestry’s potential in carbon sequestration from CSIRO and remind everyone that forest industries stand ready to contribute further to fight climate change,” Mr Hampton said.
South Australian Forest Products Association CEO Nathan Paine said that every year South Australia’s plantation forests stored around 4.64 million tonnes of CO2e.
“With our ambition to plant more trees we aim to lock in even more carbon as our industry grows,” he said.
“More trees will not only address the global timber and fibre shortages, but our industry will play a significant role in Australia reaching its emission reduction targets by removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
He said that with the Green Triangle as a significant hub of South Australia’s forest product industries, and Australia’s second-largest collective plantation and wood processing zone, the CSIRO report clearly illustrated that the Green Triangle region has one of the highest potential for forest plantation and farm forestry in Australia, demonstrating just how vital our Southeast community is to the economic, social and environmental development of our state and nation.
“SAFPA welcomes this recognition of forestry’s potential in carbon sequestration from CSIRO and we look forward to working with all levels of Government to maximise our opportunities in the carbon market and to further grow our industry by planting more trees,” Mr Paine said.
Tasmanian Forest Products Association CEO Nick Steel said that as production trees grew, they absorbed carbon from the atmosphere and when they’re harvested, they lockup that carbon in the sustainable products their timber and wood-fibre produce.
“The added benefit of more jobs in Tasmania is also a key reason to focus on forestry when Australia fights climate change and achieves net-zero emissions,” he said.
“We welcome this recognition of forestry’s potential in carbon sequestration from CSIRO and remind everyone that the Tasmanian forest industry stands ready to contribute further to fight climate change.”
