Region Archives: International

Business & Politics

Alabama Republicans are asking Commerce to set tariff rates on lumber to 60%

By Ari Hawkins
PoliticoPro
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, United States, International

Alabama Republicans are asking the Trump administration to set the duty rate on timber and lumber products to at least 60 percent, as it pursues a Section 232 investigation, according to a letter first obtained by Morning Trade. “In recent years, our $12 billion domestic cabinet industry has been devastated by unfairly traded imports of kitchen cabinets and cabinet components,” wrote Sens. Katie Britt and Tommy Tuberville, as well as Reps. Barry Moore, Gary Palmer, Mike Rogers, Dale Strong and Robert Aderholt in a note sent Thursday to Lutnick and Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler. The Alabama Republicans note that the U.S. kitchen cabinet industry supports 250,000 jobs around the country and 5,000 in Alabama, and warn some U.S. manufacturers are operating at as low as 30 percent capacity. [to access the full story a PoliticoPro subscription is required]

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US Hardwood Plywood Manufacturers File Petition For Antidumping & Countervailing Duties

The Decorative Hardwood’s Association
May 22, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood has petitioned for antidumping and countervailing duties to counter unfair trade practices by Indonesia, Vietnam, and China. These petitions were filed on Thursday, May 22, with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission and have significant implications for our economy, in which hardwood plywood plays a critical role in producing numerous downstream products. The Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood alleges that the governments of Indonesia, Vietnam, and China are actively subsidizing dozens of programs benefiting their industries, including providing products at subsidized rates and multiple grant, tax, and lending programs. According to the petitions, hardwood and decorative plywood manufacturers in these countries are also dumping their products into the U.S. at discounted prices, with margins of up to 133.7% for Vietnam, 202.8% for Indonesia, and 474.2% for China.

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Why the US and China pulled back from the edge

By Victoria Guida, Daniel Desrochers, Megan Messerly & Phelim Kine
Politico
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

President Trump’s deal to dramatically slash tariffs on China thrilled markets and offered a sliver of relief for businesses across the country. It also revealed an important lesson: Even Teflon Don can’t outrun economic reality. The deal in which both sides agreed to lower tariff rates by triple-digit percentages, came as anxiety mounted about a potential downturn in the US. …The agreement is an acknowledgment that a full-on economic divorce of the US and China would be too painful for both sides. …For U.S. corporations operating across borders, the de-escalation might offer some solace. But the remaining 30 percent tariff added to Chinese goods will cut heavily into profits — and be cost-prohibitive in some sectors. …One former Trump administration official said the meeting between the U.S. and China resulted from pressure on the White House from a variety of industries. …Beijing, too, was watching its economy falter.

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America has given China a strangely good tariff deal

The Economist
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

America has agreed to cut the “reciprocal” tariffs it imposed on China last month from 125% to a more digestible 10% for at least 90 days. China has agreed to do the same. It has also agreed to roll back other retaliatory measures, such as restrictions on sales of rare-earth minerals. …The result is a combination of tariffs that are far higher than Mr Trump inherited but much lower than seemed likely a few weeks ago. …On May 12th Mr Bessent all but conceded that tariffs on China had gotten out of hand. The result was the “equivalent of an embargo”. Financial chaos following Liberation Day, which included a bond-market revolt and a plunging dollar, helped Mr Bessent persuade Mr Trump to offer a 90-day reprieve to all of America’s trading partners on April 9th. After the Geneva talks, China has now been added to the list. [to access the full story an Economist subscription is required]

Related by the WSJ Editorial Board: The Great Trump Tariff Rollback – The President started a trade war with Adam Smith. He lost.

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Dow set to soar after US dramatically lowers tariffs with China

By David Goldman
CNN Business
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

US stock futures surged after President Donald Trump’s top trade officials brokered a surprisingly dramatic de-escalation in trade tensions with China over the weekend, dropping tariffs to much lower levels, which some economists say could stave off a US recession. …Both sides agreed to axe tariffs by 115 percentage points, still leaving the levies considerably higher than where they were before Trump took office in January – but much, much lower than the historic level over the past month that deeply concerned American businesses, consumers, economists and investors. Bessent said the US and China had put in place a mechanism to avoid raising tariffs on each other again, suggesting that the worst of the trade war may be behind us. …Bessent said “The April 2 tariff level for China was 34%, so we have moved that down from 34% to 10%.”

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What the US-China Trade Agreement Means for Markets

By James Mackintosh
The Wall Street Journal
May 12, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, International

The temporary lifting of triple-digit trade levies between China and the US while trade talks get under way removes the threat of an immediate stagflationary hit to the economy. This is very good news. It goes much further than investors thought possible—the current deal reduces the extra tariffs on China to 30%, made up of the base of 10% that will be matched by China, plus a 20% duty meant to make China do more to combat fentanyl. But an even better reason for such a big bounce is that it looks like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now in control of trade policy. Put simply, the grown-ups are in the room. …Don’t get your hopes too high. Tariffs are unlikely to go back to pre-Trump levels. …Bessent is after deep reform of China’s economy. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]

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UPM invests over 10 million euros in UPM Tervasaari mill in Finland

UPM Specialty Papers
May 28, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

UPM Specialty Papers will invest over 10 million euros in the modernization of UPM Tervasaari mill in Valkeakoski, Finland. The investment will allow UPM Specialty Papers to boost capacity and improve production stability in its highly specialized products, such as glassines and flexible packaging papers. …“This investment underscores our commitment to serving customers in the label, tape and industrial value chains as well as packaging,” highlights Tomi Lonka, Senior Vice President, Global Specialty Papers, UPM Specialty Papers. The modernization project includes the paper machine drying section rebuild and related steam system upgrade. The project is expected to be completed at the end of 2026. In recent years UPM has also invested approximately 20 million euros in boosting the energy efficiency of UPM Tervasaari mill. For example, in 2023, a new electric boiler was installed.

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Finland’s Stora Enso to sell 12.4% of Swedish forests for about $1 billion

Stora Enso OYJ
May 21, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

SWEDEN — Stora Enso has entered into an agreement to divest approximately 175,000 hectares of forest land, equivalent to 12.4% of its total forest land holdings in Sweden for an enterprise value of EUR 900 million, equivalent to SEK 9.8 billion. Soya Group, will hold a 40.6% share in the newly formed company, and a MEAG led consortium will hold 44.4% of the shares. …Stora Enso will retain a 15% ownership in the company. Stora Enso and the divested entity will enter into a 15-year wood supply agreement with a possible additional 15-year extension. This will secure wood availability for Stora Enso’s Swedish business units. The new entity will also benefit from a forest management agreement under which Stora Enso will provide forest-related services. …The proceeds from the divestment are expected to reduce Stora Enso’s net debt by EUR 790 million. The transaction is expected to be completed during the third quarter of 2025. 

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Rotorua consultant warns of tough times for New Zealand log exports to China

By Steve Edwards
New Zealand Herald
May 16, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

A construction industry crash in China is sending shockwaves through the timber trade in New Zealand. China has been by far the largest importer of New Zealand logs, 92% in the year to June last year. However, Rotorua-based forestry consultant Jeff Tombleson said China had been “throttling back” on the quantity taken since the country’s property market started contracting in 2021. Mega-infrastructure projects there, such as new cities, ports and railways, were nearing completion, he said. …Tombleson said he hadn’t witnessed such a “negative outlook” for the industry in his 50-year forestry career. …While China was not a huge market for sawn timber from New Zealand, [the sector] is “nervous” about their biggest trading partner – the United States. New Zealand Timber Industry Federation chief executive Jeff Ilott said proposed tariffs on exports of sawn timber from New Zealand to the US were not due to be introduced until later in the year.

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NZ’s timber industry braces for tough times

By Steve Edwards
Sun Media
May 14, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

A construction industry crash in China is sending shockwaves through the timber trade here. “There’s elephants in the forest,” said Rotorua-based forestry consultant Jeff Tombleson. China was by far the largest importer of New Zealand logs – 92% in the year to June last year. But Tombleson said it had been “throttling back” on the quantity taken since China’s property market started contracting in 2021. Mega-infrastructure projects there such as new cities, ports and railways were nearing completion, he said. He said most of the New Zealand timber exported to China was used on construction sites for concrete-casting (boxing), a technique used in 60% of the country’s multi-storey builds. Since 2019, New Zealand’s isolating export log prices have occasionally “come back” to sub-$100 per cubic metre from an average of $132. At the lower level, he said harvesting for most of the small forests’ estate was not viable and because there was little or no domestic demand, they shut their gates.

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UPM Plywood and the Industrial Union signed a new collective labor agreement, strikes at the mills in Finland are ending

UPM Plywood
May 9, 2025
Category: Business & Politics
Region: International

UPM Plywood and the Industrial Union have today signed the new collective labor agreement for UPM Plywood mills in Finland. The strikes at the mills are ending and work will start immediately. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement and to be able to start the work in our mill operations. We managed to find a solution that secures the purchasing power of our employees and supports the future success of UPM Plywood mills,” says Juhani Tenhunen, Vice President, Operations at UPM Plywood. The new company specific collective agreement is set to take effect today and is valid until the end of 2027. The dispute centered on wage increases, which had delayed a resolution despite most other agreement terms being settled in August 2024. …Production at the company’s Otepää mill in Estonia remained unaffected during the strike.

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Finance & Economics

How major global and economic sectors are reacting to US tariff policy

Window + Door – National Glass Association
May 12, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States, International

The effects have been felt by building industries in terms of increased costs, disrupted supply chains and economic uncertainty. Last week’s webinar, “Trump’s Tariffs: Transition or Turmoil?… focused on the near-term effects of tariffs, how trade environments have shifted in response, and what the next steps of the Trump Administration might be. …Ari Hawkins, a Politico trade reporter, agreed that the administration is likely looking to the USMCA renegotiations to “really get into the weeds of a lot of these tariff disputes” with Canada. …Hawkins says that further Section 232 investigations could lead to new tariffs in the coming months on a range of products, including semiconductors, lumber and critical minerals. While the administration might make exemptions on materials like lumber before those investigations are completed, Hawkins says, they are still likely to face the Section 232 tariffs as part of the administration’s focus on incentivizing manufacturing and development within the US.

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Wood, Paper & Green Building

From Timber Prices to Carbon Storage: Unpacking Cross-Laminated Timber’s Climate Impact

By Donna Gregory
E+ELeader
May 27, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Global efforts to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are accelerating across industries, and the construction sector is no exception. With buildings responsible for a significant portion of global emissions, sustainable alternatives have come under intense scrutiny. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has emerged as a promising substitute that not only reduces the carbon footprint associated with conventional materials like steel and concrete, but also contributes to long-term carbon storage. However, as CLT gains traction in mid- and high-rise construction, its full environmental impact—both positive and negative—must be understood. In a recent study, researchers combined economic modeling with a cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment (LCA) to capture the comprehensive climate mitigation potential of CLT. This interdisciplinary framework was designed to quantify both the direct emissions benefits of material substitution and the broader market and ecological reactions that come into play when CLT adoption accelerates.

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Bioregional design: What is it and what will it mean for climate and planet?

The World Economic Forum
May 23, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

…Mass timber provides several key learnings to understand how bioregional design can be developed and scaled. In the early 1990s, cross-laminated timber was invented in Austria, primarily driven by efforts to add value to softwood timber. The process involves glueing layered boards together to create strong, stable panels. Canada was an early adopter in North America, supported by knowledge-sharing with Europe and government-funded projects like the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in British Columbia. The US followed with key projects such as the Framework Building in Portland and T3 in Minneapolis, demonstrating that mass timber is viable for mid-rise and even high-rise buildings. The Canadian National Building Code was updated in 2020 and the American International Building Code was updated in 2021 to allow mass timber buildings up to 18 stories in certain conditions based on these pilot projects.

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The War on Rot: Architects Turn to Science to Future-Proof Wood

By Blaine Brownell
ARCHITECT Magazine
May 23, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

As the popularity of wood-based materials in building construction increases, facade-based applications are becoming more desirable and prevalent. Wood’s susceptibility to decay is a familiar phenomenon, and many established preservation methods exist. However, most wood treatments for external use are problematic from human health and environmental perspectives. Conventional preservation chemicals …contain known hazards. …For these reasons, scientists and manufacturers have been developing alternative techniques that are biocompatible and ecologically friendly, aiming to preserve wood effectively without the drawbacks of harmful chemicals. An established example is acetylation, a process that chemically alters wood to make it water resistant without toxic substances. …A Florida Atlantic University research team has developed a method to elevate the mechanical performance of hardwood as well. The technique strengthens the cell walls of trees by introducing an iron compound into their vascular systems. …Other investigations seek to prevent decay before it begins.

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Wooden Nails Revolutionize Wood-Frame Shear Walls

By Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts
Mirage News
May 17, 2025
Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building
Region: International

Modern architecture increasingly favors timber structures for their sustainability and energy efficiency. However, traditional metal connectors used in these structures often suffer from corrosion and reduced durability. Now, researchers from Nanjing Forestry University have developed an innovative solution using wooden nails, offering a sustainable and durable alternative. The study, published in the Journal of Bioresources and Bioproducts, investigates the lateral resistance performance of wood-frame shear walls using wooden nail connections. The research team conducted monotonic loading tests on 64 nail joints across eight groups, considering factors such as sheathing panel material (oriented strand board (OSB) and structural plywood (SP)), thickness, nail diameter, spacing, and cap configuration. The results show that wooden nails can significantly enhance the shear-bearing capacity and stiffness of the connections. Specifically, joints with SP sheathing panels exhibited higher shear capacity than those with OSB. Increasing nail diameter and reducing spacing also improved load-bearing capacity and stiffness.

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Forestry

How the EU deforestation law aggravates the trade dispute with the United States

The Financial Times in Bytes Europe
May 8, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, International

The EU has made little headway and an attempt to appease the US by delaying controversial import controls has fallen flat. The US forestry industry has accused the EU of erecting trade barriers by favouring its own industry under amended deforestation rules. The EU’s deforestation law, which will ban the import of products from sectors including rubber, cocoa, wood and paper if they come from deforested land, should have come into force last year. Under pressure from the bloc’s trading partners it was delayed until the end of the year. Despite this respite, the nine biggest US forest product organisations accused the EU of setting “severe” compliance challenges, opening a new front in the growing transatlantic trade conflict. The EU has categorised the US — and all its own members — as “low risk”. Heidi Brock, head of AF&PA, said the law amounted to a “non-trade tariff barrier” for US paper and wood products.

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Beyond timber, EU eyes profit potential of sustainable forests

By Xhoi Zajmi
EURACTIV
May 30, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

As efforts to combat deforestation intensify, attention is shifting to the sustainable use of forests. In Europe, non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are emerging as valuable, biodiversity-friendly alternatives. …In response, the EU has adopted a deforestation-free regulation, requiring companies to ensure products entering the European market are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation, while also respecting human rights and indigenous land. In FAO’s assessment of the state of the world’s forests in 2024, wood-based goods have historically dominated forest product production and trade, serving as the primary source of income and employment in forestry. …Amid growing awareness of forests’ broader ecological and economic roles, attention is shifting towards NWFPs, which are increasingly seen as sustainable and profitable alternatives. Although still secondary in trade value, NWFPS (medicinal plants, fruits, and resins) are gaining relevance as societies seek more diverse and ecologically responsible uses of forest resources.

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EU Deforestation Regulation Country Benchmarking Misses the Mark

By Kerstin Canby and Marigold Walkins
Forest Trends
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

On May 22, the European Commission released its long-awaited country benchmarking classifications under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). …After years of development, one might have expected a risk classification tool robust enough to help companies navigate the complex terrain of global sourcing. Instead, the rankings are poised to mislead businesses into thinking certain countries are “low risk” when the realities on the ground tell a very different story. …The EUDR sets out dual requirements: products placed on or exported from the EU market must be both “deforestation-free” and “produced in compliance with the laws of the country of origin.” However, the EC’s benchmarking appears to focus overwhelmingly on deforestation metrics and existing EU political sanctions—giving little attention to equally critical issues like governance, corruption, and law enforcement capacity. Findings from Forest Trends’ Illicit Harvest, Complicit Goods report further underscore the problem.

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Europe urgently needs to prepare for worsening wildfires, report finds

By Hunter Bassler
Wildfire Today
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

A new report published by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, or EASAC, a collective of national science academies across Europe calls for collective action to face increasingly disastrous wildfires in the region. The report estimates that nearly 20% of Southern Europe will experience extreme fire danger every two years by the end of the century. Researchers argue that a unified European integrated fire management system, emphasizing landscape wildland fire governance, is the region’s only way forward. “Current EU wildfire policies and funding mechanisms primarily emphasise emergency responses to wildfire prevention, limiting their effectiveness in addressing the root causes of wildfire risk,” the report said. “EU wildfire risk management is hampered by the lack of a targeted, cohesive policy framework. Instead, wildfire risk is managed indirectly, disconnectedly, and fragmentarily through sectoral policies such as the EU Forest Strategy 2030, the Biodiversity Strategy, and the Climate Strategy.”

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What would happen if the Amazon rainforest dried out?

By Fabiano Maisonnave
The Associated Press
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

BRAZIL — Fallen logs are rotting, the trees grow sparser and the temperature rises in places sunlight hits the ground. This is what 24 years of severe drought looks like in the world’s largest rainforest. But this patch of degraded forest, about the size of a soccer field, is a scientific experiment. Launched in 2000 by Brazilian and British scientists, Esecaflor — short for “Forest Drought Study Project” in Portuguese— set out to simulate a future in which the changing climate could deplete the Amazon of rainfall. It is the longest-running project of its kind in the world, and has become a source for dozens of academic articles. …This resulted in the loss of approximately 40% of the total weight of the vegetation and the carbon stored within it from the plot. The main findings were detailed in a study published in May in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. 

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Consultation begins on new environmental standards for forestry sector

Inside Government New Zealand
May 29, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The Government has opened public consultation on proposed amendments to the National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry (NES-CF), aimed at restoring national consistency and protecting the sector’s right to operate. Minister of Forestry Todd McClay said the proposed changes were about “getting foresters and wood processors back in the driver’s seat and stopping councils from using their plans to rewrite the rules on forestry through the back door”. “Our fibre sector – from forestry to wood processors – plays a crucial role in New Zealand’s economy, particularly in regional communities,” Mr McClay says. The current NES-CF was designed to provide a nationally consistent framework for managing the environmental effects of plantation forestry. However, recent changes have allowed councils to bypass that intent by imposing more stringent rules without justification – a trend that is now undermining investment and confidence in the sector, said the Minister.

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Trees Synchronize Their Bio-electrical Signals During Solar Eclipses: ‘The Wood Wide Web in Action’

Good News Network
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

More evidence that trees display group cognition and communication has arrived from the Dolomites where a multidisciplinary team monitored a forest during a solar eclipse. Their research witnessed two things, that the trees of the forest synchronized bioelectrical activity during the eclipse, and that the process of synchronization was started and directed by the eldest trees—a full 14 hours before the eclipse even started. The results of their experiment, which was published in Royal Society Open Science, demonstrate both the incredible value of old trees to the forests in which they live, but also the extent to which our woody cousins respond to their environment… The two older trees in the study, about 70 years old, had a much more pronounced early response to the impending eclipse than the young tree.

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‘A gut punch’ – Ireland has the fewest trees in Europe

By James Wilson
Newstalk
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Centuries ago, around 80% of Ireland’s green landscape was covered in trees – many of which were hundreds of years old. The arrival of modern agriculture changed that now less than 1% of the island is covered by ancient woodland. The Government hopes to reverse this historic trend and is aiming to cover 18% of the State in trees by 2050. Businesses are getting involved as well; Wolfman Digital bought a plot of land seven-years ago and staff were bussed out to plant trees on it. “Back in 2017, we decided we wanted to become carbon neutral,” CEO Alan Coleman said. “We were looking into our different options and we learnt three things about forests that really made us feel strongly that we wanted to start planting trees. “The first thing we learnt is that forestry is one of the strongest solutions to global warming.”

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Young trees face ‘make or break’ moment as drought reshapes Europe’s forests

By Wageningen University
Phys.Org
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

The future of the European forests is at risk due to our changing climate. To observe the effects of climate change, we often look at the large trees. But the young trees are the future of the forest and are also the most vulnerable. The current drought is the biggest threat to young trees. A recent study published in Ecological Modelling by Wageningen University & Research and forest inventory institutes from 11 EU countries highlights new signals in the critical young phase of the forest. Forest rejuvenation—the process in which new trees establish themselves and start to grow—is very important for the future forest structure, biodiversity, growth and resilience of the forest. When new trees start to grow, it marks the beginning of an important process. This phase is crucial for the future forest. Predicting forest regeneration at a European scale was very limited.

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Eleven countries demand EU weakens deforestation law further, document shows

By Kate Abnet
Reuters in Offshore Engineer
May 26, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

BRUSSELS – According to a document obtained by, 11 governments are urging the European Union to delay or weaken its upcoming deforestation law. This policy, a world first, aims to stop the 10% global deforestation caused by EU imports of soy, beef and palm oil, among other products. However, it has become a controversial part of Europe’s environmental agenda. After complaints from Brazil and the US and a reduction in reporting rules, the EU has already delayed its launch for a year, until Dec. 2025. The Commission announced last week that it would spare most countries from the strictest checks. A group of eleven countries led by Austria, Luxembourg and Germany, have demanded that the European Commission further simplify the rules and delay the application date. …The countries’ paper, that the EU agriculture ministers in Brussels will be discussing on Monday, said the requirements are “disproportionate” to the regulation’s goal.

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Global Forest Loss Shatters Records in 2024, Fueled by Massive Fires

World Resources Institute
May 20, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

WASHINGTON — Global forest loss surged to record highs in 2024, driven by a catastrophic rise in fires, according to new data from the University of Maryland’s GLAD Lab, made available on World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch platform. Loss of tropical primary forests alone reached 6.7 million hectares — nearly twice as much as in 2023 and an area nearly the size of Panama, at the rate of 18 soccer fields every minute. For the first time on our record, fires — not agriculture — were the leading cause of tropical primary forest loss, accounting for nearly 50% of all destruction. This marks a dramatic shift from recent years, when fires averaged just 20%. Meanwhile, tropical primary forest loss driven by other causes also jumped by 14%, the sharpest increase since 2016. Despite some positive developments, particularly in Southeast Asia, the overall trend is heading in a troubling direction. …Globally, the fires emitted 4.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions. 

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Wildfires push forest destruction to 20-year high just as EU delays anti-deforestation rules

By Louise Guillot
Politico
May 21, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

BRUSSELS — Tropical forest loss rocketed to a 20-year high in 2024 as climate change-fueled wildfires tore through some of the planet’s most important natural carbon sinks. Close to 7 million hectares of primary tropical forests were destroyed last year, with nearly half of that due to fire, said a report from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland published Wednesday. Wildfires also swept through boreal forests — in particular in Russia and Canada — leading to 30 million hectares of trees being lost globally in 2024, and resulting in an estimated 4.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions. It came as the European Union decided to delay anti-deforestation rules and wind back other environmental protections in a bid to boost economic competitiveness. “This is a dangerous feedback loop we cannot afford to trigger further,” warned Peter Potapov, research professor at the University of Maryland. 

Additional coverage in Euro News by Rosie Frost: World lost a record-shattering amount of forest in 2024, fuelled by climate change-driven wildfires

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Australia’s oldest prehistoric tree frog hops 22 million years back in time

University of New South Wales
May 15, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Scientists have discovered the oldest ancestor for all Australian tree frogs, with distant links to the tree frogs of South America. Newly discovered evidence of Australia’s earliest species of tree frog challenges what we know about when Australian and South American frogs parted ways on the evolutionary tree. Previously, scientists believed Australian and South American tree frogs separated from each other about 33 million years ago. But in a study published today in Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, palaeontologists from UNSW Sydney say the new species, Litoria tylerantiqua, is now at about 55 million years old, the earliest known member of the pelodryadid family of Australian tree frogs.

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‘Active Management’ Harms Forests — And It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse

By Dominick DellaSala, David Lindenmayer and Diana Six
The Revelator
May 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

Over the past few years, many decisionmakers and forest managers have increasingly called for “active management” of natural forests — human intervention via mechanical thinning and other forms of commercial logging and road building — in response to increasing wildfires, beetle outbreaks, and intense storms. Many activists oppose these methods, saying they do more harm than good. For instance, actions that seek to suppress naturally occurring wildfires may make those fires more intense when they happen. But active management activities have scaled up in response to economic drivers, misinformation on natural disturbance processes, and more climate-driven extreme events that trigger large and fast-moving fires. …Our research daylights the expanding active management footprint while creating science support for decision-makers to choose more prudently on behalf of maintaining or restoring integrity and for activists to push back when policy is inconsistent with conservation science principles.

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Australian forestry agency should be shut down for repeatedly breaking law, critics argue

Lisa Cox
The Guardian
May 10, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: International

David Heilpern

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia — A former magistrate and one of Australia’s most experienced scientists have launched an extraordinary attack on the New South Wales government’s logging agency, describing it as effectively a “criminal organisation” that should be shut down after a string of court convictions. Prof David Heilpern, a NSW magistrate between 1998 and 2020 and now the dean of law at Southern Cross University, said the state’s Forestry Corporation should be “disbanded” as it was was no longer fit for purpose. …A NSW Forestry Corporation spokesperson said Heilpern’s suggestion that the corporation be compared to a bikie gang was “ridiculous”. “Forestry Corporation will not respond to this analogy,” they said. …Heilpern’s comments follow a judgment in the NSW land and environment court last year that fined the Forestry Corporation $360,000 after it failed to accurately map two environmentally significant areas in the Yambulla state forest.

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Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Calls for Drax to be forced to fully disclose its biomass sourcing

By Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose
The Guardian
June 2, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Screenshot

The owner of the Drax wood-burning power station should be forced to disclose full details of its tree consumption, campaigners have argued, as MPs review the billions in renewables subsidies the North Yorkshire plant receives. A delegated legislation committee will decide on Monday whether to pass the government’s plans to extend billpayer-funded subsidies to the country’s biomass power generators, of which Drax is by far the biggest. Green campaigners said a condition of any extension should be that Drax published a key report by KPMG into its operations and sourcing. Reports by the auditor have been provided to the government and the energy regulator Ofgem but not the public. Ofgem has said KPMG shows Drax has not breached rules on sourcing trees for burning from environmentally sustainable forests.

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Gerolsteiner begins construction of biomass plant with E.ON

Bioenergy Insight
May 27, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Mineral water producer Gerolsteiner Brunnen has broken ground on a new biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant at its site in the Vulkaneifel region, Germany, in partnership with energy provider E.ON. The plant is set to significantly reduce the company’s reliance on fossil fuels and further its long-standing commitment to climate protection. Once operational in early 2027, the plant will supply up to 95% of Gerolsteiner’s heat demand and around 20% of its electricity needs. It will run on regionally sourced biomass, including wood chips from damaged or diseased wood, forest residues, and green waste, that would otherwise go unused in traditional wood processing industries… The project is expected to reduce the company’s carbon emissions by over 7,000 tonnes annually.

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Our forests are not spreadsheets: Why Nature demands more than market logic

By Robert Nasi, Director General
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
May 27, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

When I hear discussions about creating markets to “save nature,” a part of me is hopeful, but a bigger part is deeply cautious. Looking at how these market ideas have played out, like carbon markets, gives me pause. Forests, wetlands, and the natural world are not simple spreadsheets; treating them as such can lead us down a perilous path… Carbon, as CO2, is a global pollutant. A tonne reduced in one place has, theoretically, the same atmospheric impact as a tonne reduced elsewhere.This (imperfect) fungibility is what would allow a global carbon market to function. Biodiversity, however, is the epitome of diversity, local and unique. The specific mix of species, the genetic diversity and the intricate ecological relationships that define a patch of old-growth rainforest in the Amazon are utterly different from those in a Scottish pine forest or an Indonesian mangrove. You cannot swap one for the other and claim equivalence.

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Cardiff University research finds Amazon could survive drought, but at a high cost

Nation Cymru
May 26, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The Amazon rainforest may be able to survive long-term drought caused by climate change, but adjusting to a drier, warmer world would exact a heavy toll, according to new research in which Cardiff University played a role. The findings show adapting to the effects of climate change could see some parts of the Amazon rainforest lose many of its largest trees, releasing carbon stored in them to the air, and reducing the rainforest’s carbon sink capacity. Parts of the Amazon are expected to become drier and warmer as the climate changes, but long-term effects on the region’s rainforests – which span more than 2 million square miles – are poorly understood. Previous research has raised concerns that a combination of severe warming and drying, together with deforestation, could lead to lush rainforest degrading to a sparser forest or even savanna.

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UK ‘could take more US wood pellets to burn for electricity’ amid trade talks

By Rebecca Speare-Cole
UK Independent
May 14, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

The UK could potentially take more US wood pellets to burn for electricity amid ongoing trade talks, Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary has said. Brooke Rollins, who met with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Energy Minister Michael Shanks on Tuesday, said America is “100% confident” that its wood chips meet the UK’s sustainability requirements. Ms Rollins has been promoting US agricultural produce, including American wood pellets, on a visit to London this week as trade talks between the two countries continue following the preliminary deal struck on Thursday. But the biomass sector has long faced accusations of sourcing and burning wood from environmentally important or rare forests. Campaign and media investigations have alleged that Drax, which runs the UK’s biggest power station in Yorkshire, has used wood from environmentally important forests in North America.

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Even as emissions level off, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is growing faster than ever. Here’s why

by Issy Borley, Cathy Trudinger and Ray Langenfelds
The Conversation in Phys.org
May 8, 2025
Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy
Region: International

Over the last decade, humanity’s emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) have stabilized after a period of huge growth. Average growth is now down to just 0.6% per year, compared to 2% per year in the previous decade. But leveling off isn’t the same as declining—and we’ve leveled off at a very high rate of emissions. The Global Carbon Project estimates human activities released a record high of 10.2 gigatons of carbon (GtC) in 2024. …CO₂ concentrations are increasing because we are still pumping massive amounts of long-buried CO₂ into our atmosphere. …natural carbon sinks are struggling to keep up. …This is a crucial moment. Our current rate of emissions will only cause CO₂ concentrations and global temperatures to rise. Natural carbon sinks will not pull out enough carbon to stabilize our climate on a timeframe meaningful to humans. The earlier the action and decrease in emissions, the better our future.

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Health & Safety

Toxic wildfire pollution infiltrates homes of 1bn people a year, study finds

By Damian Carrington
The Guardian
May 14, 2025
Category: Health & Safety
Region: International

Toxic pollution from wildfires has infiltrated the homes of more than a billion people a year over the last two decades, according to new research. The climate crisis is driving up the risk of wildfires by increasing heatwaves and droughts, making the issue of wildfire smoke a “pressing global issue”, scientists said. The tiny particles produced by wildfires can travel thousands of miles and are known to be more toxic than urban air pollution, due to higher concentrations of chemicals that cause inflammation. Wildfire pollution has been linked to early deaths, worsened heart and breathing diseases and premature births.Previous studies have analysed outdoor exposure to wildfire smoke, but people spend most of their time indoors, particularly when seeking refuge from wildfires. The new analysis is the first global, high-resolution study of indoor spikes in wildfire pollution.

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Forest Fires

Severe wildfires in Russia’s Siberia region rage through 600,000 hectares of forest

By Caitlin Danaher, Darya Tarasova and Brandon Miller
CNN
May 14, 2025
Category: Forest Fires
Region: International

Severe wildfires raging in a Siberian region of Russia have engulfed more than 600,000 hectares of forest, local authorities have warned. In the Eastern Siberian territory of Zabaykalsky Krai, a federal-level state of emergencies has been in place since late April, Russian state news agency TASS reported. Despite huge efforts to tackle wildfire outbreaks in the region, which borders Mongolia, 49 forest fires continue to burn, with a total area exceeding 629,000 hectares, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations said Wednesday. Since the beginning of this year, more than 1.4 million hectares of land have been affected by wildfires, according to figures from Russia’s Federal Agency for Forestry published on Tuesday, about three times the total area affected by fires in the United States and Canada so far this year combined.

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Forest History & Archives

Looking at the untold work of lumberjills during WWII

By Becky McCreary
My Herald Review
May 26, 2025
Category: Forest History & Archives
Region: International

Rosie the Riveter, with her arm raised declared “We can do it,” is an iconic symbol of American women leaving the kitchen for factory and shipyard jobs during World War II. The need was the same in Great Britain, but those women worked out-of-doors on farms and in forests as part of the Women’s Land Army (WLA). Wood was a cheap material, used for telegraph poles, pit props in mines, on aircraft and ships and in the production of charcoal in explosives. Britain had lush forests but also imported timber from Norway. The German occupation of Norway caused a shortage of timber, and in April 1942 … the Women’s Timber Corps was added to the WLA. They were known as Lumber Jills, or lumberjills, a familiar connection with Lumber Jacks. …The most specialized skill was measuring, which included identifying trees for felling, assessing the timber in a tree and measuring the amount felled. 

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