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People with an interest in the developing woodfuel industry are invited to register for an important international conference and workshop entitled ‘The Woodfuel Supply Chain – Sharing Experience’, in Warwick, England in September this year. It is being jointly organised by the Biomass Energy Centre and IEA Bioenergy to share experience and knowledge among practitioners[…]

The PEFC Governance Review, published today, outlines 39 recommendations aimed at further improving the effectiveness of the world’s largest certification scheme. The review will support the restructuring of the organisations’ governance to ensure that PEFC International meets its objective as set out in the 2007 Strategic Plan. The PEFC Board of Directors has carefully considered[…]

Communities across Scotland are getting more support to develop woodland crofts with the announcement of a new project officer to drive forward the initiative. Sandra Holmes has been appointed as the new Woodland Crofts Projects Officer with a role of kick starting the initiative to get woodland crofts up and running. The initiative is being[…]

Softwood sawlog prices have gone up faster in Europe than in any other region of the world the past two years, according to Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). Because wood costs account for 65-75% of the production costs when producing softwood lumber, they are the key factor determining a regions or company’s competitiveness. In the 1Q/08,[…]

Total forest, paper and packaging (FPP) deal values increased to $27.6 billion in 2007, up $1.9bn on 2006, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Branching Out report. Deal values were well up in the first quarter of 2008 reaching $11.8bn, although the outlook for the rest of this year is more uncertain. North America’s share of deal activity[…]

Tembec has started up a new biomass boiler at the pulp mill in Tartas, France. This €33.8 million investment will supply 85 t/h of steam to the pulp mill which produces 155,000 t of specialty cellulose pulp annually. The fluidised bed boiler will burn biomass from the industrial process, bark and other harvested wood residuals[…]

UPM has launched carbon footprint calculations for its paper products to assist its customers to estimate their own carbon footprint. Carbon footprint calculations are available for the customers as part of the Paper Profile. The basis for UPM’s carbon footprint calculations are the ten elements of the Carbon Footprint Framework for Paper and Board Products[…]

The predicted slowdown in output in the Finnish wood products industry is uppon us because of falling demand for sawn goods and an excess supply of such goods in Europe in particular, according to TTJ, a timber industry magazine. The strength of the euro has also played a part. The situation has been exacerbated by[…]

A team of scientists may have solved the riddle of why plants that work with bacteria to convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into an essential biological nutrient (ammonia) tend to prevail in the world’s tropical regions rather than higher latitudes. In a paper published this week in Nature, the authors – including Dr Ying Ping Wang[…]

Deere & Company plans to further reduce its total global greenhouse gas emissions by 25% per dollar of revenue from 2005 to 2014. The company has committed to the reduction goal in conjunction with its participation in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program, which Deere joined in 2007. “John Deere’s greenhouse gas reduction[…]