International Pulp Week 2025 opened in Vancouver with a note of celebration and reflection as delegates marked the event’s 20th anniversary. “After decades of being in Montreal in January… we decided to move the event to Vancouver and into the spring and summer months,” said Tim Brown, Vice-President at Numera Analytics. 
Over the years, Brown noted, the event has drawn participants from more than 50 countries and consistently focused on the industry’s most pressing challenges and opportunities. “It’s an industry that has innovated, adapted, and is one that itself is smarter and more sustainable.” Following Brown’s welcome, he introduced Kevin Mason, Managing Director of ERA Forest Products Research, who returned to the IPW stage to reflect on two decades of transformation in the global pulp sector—and to look ahead.
…Mason highlighting four key developments that have defined the past two decades: “A dramatic rise in demand for market pulp from China… Chinese demand met by massive growth in hardwood capacity in Latin America… hardwood steadily gained share versus softwood… and tissue expanded while printing and writing papers contracted.” 
Looking ahead, Mason projected the estimated end-use composition of pulp demand in 2040: tissue at 54%, specialty papers at 24%, packaging at 12%, fluff-based products at 7%, and graphic paper at 3%. He also shared a slide titled “Potential Developments Over the Next 20 Years,” listing several scenarios: continued expansion of domestic pulp capacity in China; hardwood gaining further share over softwood (though possibly nearing saturation); and the potential for dramatic growth in specialty papers and packaging—if government policy supports a shift away from plastics.
Jonathan Rhone, CEO of CO280, began by stating that “capturing and permanently sequestering biogenic CO₂ from boiler stack emissions represents a $100 billion per year market opportunity for the global pulp and paper sector.” The market, he said, is being created by global technology and financial firms—“Microsoft, JPMorgan, Google”—that are purchasing high-durability carbon dioxide removals (CDRs) to meet their net zero obligations.
…Parker Budding, representing Osapiens, followed with a presentation on how pulp producers can prepare for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which comes into force on December 31, 2025. The regulation prohibits companies from placing products on the EU market unless they can prove the goods are deforestation-free and legally produced.
…Mikko Antsalo began by stating, “Softwood pulp markets are projected to remain well-balanced,” citing steady demand growth and the absence of new capacity announcements as stabilizing factors. He concluded by reinforcing Metsä Fibre’s preparedness for the future: “We offer customers an optimized supply chain, fossil-free production, and are well positioned to fulfill upcoming sustainability requirements.” 
VANCOUVER, BC — 
Canada continues to stare down the barrel of the American trade war. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement faces its first big review in 2026. This country remains in a uniquely high-stakes moment. …This will, and will always be, an uneven fight. Canada is 40 million people and only the world’s ninth largest economy. A middle power is going up against the world’s richest and most powerful country. How exactly is it even possible for Canada to win in this asymmetric trade war? Crucially, this conflict isn’t just about steel, soybeans or softwood lumber – it’s about narrative and power. …US President Trump frames trade deficits as proof that the US is “losing”:
A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the most sweeping of President Trump’s tariffs, a day after a US trade court ruled that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said it was pausing the lower court’s ruling to consider the government’s appeal. Wednesday’s surprise ruling by the US Court of International Trade had threatened Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs and additional tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China. The trade court ruled that the Constitution gave Congress, not the president, the power to levy taxes and tariffs, and that the president had exceeded his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. …Trump administration officials had said they were undeterred by the trade court’s ruling, saying they expected either to prevail on appeal or employ other presidential powers to ensure the tariffs go into effect.
YORK COUNTY — South Carolina’s New Indy paper mill… releases more of a powerful neurotoxin into the air than any other major paper plant in the country, a new report says. The amount of mercury leaving New Indy’s York County plant is 
Lumber is in the spotlight as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the US Lumber Coalition disagree over what’s behind the U.S. housing market slump. The NAHB has pointed to tariff uncertainty and lumber prices as being partly responsible. The US’s current anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duty on imported Canadian softwood lumber stands at 14.5%. It could potentially climb later in the year to nearly 35%. “I share President Trump’s desire to create fair and balanced trade across our borders, certainly would bring back as much production as we can,” NAHB CEO Jim Tobin said. “But until we do that, and it will take years and millions of dollars of investment, we need to make sure that we have a reliable, affordable source of lumber.” …The US Lumber Coalition has also been critical of Canada, saying that “ongoing unfair trade practices” by its lumber industry have been “extremely harmful to US lumber producers.”
Economic growth forecasts for the US and globally were cut further by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEDC) as President Trump’s tariff turmoil weighs on expectations. The US growth outlook was downwardly revised to just 1.6% this year and 1.5% in 2026. In March, the OECD was still expecting a 2.2% expansion in 2025. The fallout from Trump’s tariff policy, elevated economic policy uncertainty, a slowdown of net immigration and a smaller federal workforce were cited as reasons for the latest downgrade. Global growth, meanwhile, is also expected to be lower than previously forecast, with the OECD saying that “the slowdown is concentrated in the United States, Canada and Mexico”. “Global GDP growth is projected to slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% this year and in 2026. It had previously forecast global growth of 3.1% this year and 3% in 2026. …The OECD adjusted its inflation forecast, saying “higher trade costs will also push up inflation.”
US market conditions have been lackluster since the Trump tariffs on Canadian lumber were postponed for the second time in early April. …The proposed 25% tariffs were the catalyst for SPF prices rising in the first two months of 2025. …Today, this puts BC Interior SPF mills back near break-even levels at current lumber prices and 14.4% duties with other Canadian regions looking to be marginally profitable. With tariffs in suspension mode, the US market fundamentals have now been exposed – the market is weak and remain weak – and there is too much supply – again! ….The silliness of the Trump administration’s irrational rhetoric as well as biased trade policies will only result in raising all lumber prices to the US home builder, the renovation contractor, and the consumer. How much of the tariffs (or Canadian duties) are passed on to the consumer is the only wild card, but it will likely be the majority.
A pause on some tariffs creates a window for Canadian companies to re-examine their risk profiles and work with brokers to secure needed coverage. Both Bay Street and Wall Street are cheering the ruling from the US Court of International Trade that, at least temporarily, tamps down the 10% tariffs the White House imposed on most countries, and drug-related emergency orders setting 25% tariffs on some goods from Canada and Mexico. …Some companies may use tariff lulls to stock up on certain key materials. …Construction companies, for example, often import flooring products from the US, even though Canadian builders have good access to lumber. For them, stockpiling those materials reduces the economic impacts of both US tariffs and Canadian retaliatory tariffs. …Additional optimism arrived via King Charles III’s Speech from the Throne this week. The document opening Canada’s parliament commits to major economic initiatives, including large-scale increases in housing construction.
New homes development got a shot in the arm this spring with April starts rising in Canada and the United States. Recent reports from TD Economics examined new home data in both markets, finding month-over-month rises in starts for April. In Canada, starts jumped 30 per cent month over month, marking the largest rise since June 2023. Driving growth was the multi-family family segment that saw starts rise 34 per cent, whereas single-family detached home starts gained six per cent from March. …TD noted the “bounce-back” in activity was not unsurprising given levels were so low to start the year. What’s more, housing starts could “be softening,” amid higher construction costs and lower immigration, it cautioned. In the U.S., activity was less robust by percentage growth. Starts there increased less than two per cent month over month.
Mass timber continues to gain traction in the United States for its sustainability, strength and aesthetic appeal. …In just the last four years, Texas saw a 168% increase in the amount of mass timber projects either in design, construction or completed. As mass timber developments in Texas increase in popularity, owners and contractors face a critical decision: whether to source the material domestically or internationally. The decision isn’t as simple as price — although it is a big factor. There are other points to consider when selecting your mass timber provider. …With threats of tariffs and rising material costs, builders might feel inclined to source mass timber from domestic providers. According to Forisk, an industry research and consulting firm, there are 38 mass timber production facilities across the United States and Canada —24 of which can produce cross-laminated timber (CLT). Nearly 51% of those facilities are located in the Northwest region of the United States.
The BC government spent a decade killing wolves to protect caribou. Now, critics warn that despite questions about its effectiveness, ethics and impact on the rest of the environment, the government is moving to make the wolf cull a permanent part of its strategy. Launched as a short-term emergency measure in 2015, the decade-long wolf cull is a morally outrageous tactic to divert public attention from the root cause of caribou declines — the province’s failure to significantly address habitat destruction — said Pacific Wild co-founder Ian McAllister. …The future for caribou and wolves is looking even more dire given the federal and provincial plans to fast-track permitting and reduce environmental assessments for development, McAllister said. …The province is looking to make its “short-term emergency” measure of shooting wolves to protect caribou a permanent practice in lieu of protecting habitat, critics warn.
The Red Flag Warning has been sounded by Alberta Wildfire. But what does it mean? It means conditions are ripe for the ignition and fast-moving spread of wildfires. The forest-fire experts use a sliding scale, first adopted by the U.S. National Weather Service, to determine how dry the conditions are in the forest areas, and how the wind could help fan the flames if that dry tinder is ignited. Basically, a score is calculated based on wind speed, heat and the lack of humidity. A sample document provided by Alberta Wildfire shows a hypothetical watch being created when the maximum daily temperatures is expected to hit 33 Celsius, the humidity is at 25 per cent or lower, and wind speeds are 10 km/h. Basically, when it is punishingly hot and dry, it doesn’t take a lot of wind to trigger an alert. “And, just like weather alerts, “watch” is one level below “warning.”
MAINE, USA — A law signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week requires landowners who are participating in the forest carbon credit market to report basic data — including a landowner’s name, contact information, date of enrollment and total enrolled acreage — to the state on an annual basis, information the state will use to create a database and track the impact of carbon credits on Maine’s forests. “We need to understand how Maine woodland owners are participating in the emerging forest carbon market, given both Maine’s forest-based economy and its climate change initiatives,” said Morten Moesswilde, the division director of Forest Policy and Management for the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, in a work session on the legislation in February. …The law was supported by conservation organizations as well as the Maine Forest Products Council and several woodlot owners, who stressed the importance of understanding an emerging market.
This study investigates the role of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in advancing sustainable forest management and influencing forest cover changes across 70 countries from 2000 to 2021. Using dynamic panel data model and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimations, the analysis addresses endogeneity concerns, such as those stemming from lagged dependent variables, providing robust and unbiased estimates. Results indicate that FSC certification significantly enhances forest cover, with the most pronounced effects observed in low- and middle-income countries. Additionally, the study explores how FSC certification interacts with income levels and climatic conditions, revealing region-specific variations in its effects. These findings highlight the importance of market-based conservation tools, such as FSC certification, which align economic incentives with sustainability objectives. The analysis provides practical insights, recommending the integration of FSC certification into responsible trade practices and the development of regionally tailored forest management strategies to maximize conservation outcomes.
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 
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’ 
Climate change has put Western Canada’s glaciers on track for devastating loss over the coming decades, with the southern half of BC expected to lose nearly 75% of the alpine ice — even if warming stops today, a new study has found. The planet has so far warmed an average of about 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. If that increase climbs to 1.5 degrees C, 81% of Western Canadian and US glacier mass would melt, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science. …Harry Zekollari, the study’s lead author and a glaciologist at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel, said the international research team used eight glacier computer models to analyze the potential long-term evolution of the year-round ice. The results painted a dire picture for the world’s glaciers, as the planet has already locked in enough warming to melt 40% of the Earth’s year-round ice by the end of the century.
Even if conversations are dominated by electrification, Toyota is working on a different course to keep combustion engines relevant. A recent Nikkei Asia report reveals that Japanese automakers led by Toyota have opened a bioethanol facility in Fukushima, aiming to slash the carbon footprint of conventional engines with a new kind of “better biofuel”. …What sets this project apart is its focus on second-generation biofuels: non-edible plants and agricultural waste serve as the feedstock, rather than food crops like corn or sugarcane. By avoiding feedstocks that compete with food supply, Toyota’s program addresses a key criticism of traditional biofuels. …The choice of Fukushima for the facility is symbolic. The site reuses land in an area devastated by the 2011 nuclear disaster, turning “disaster zones” into productive, green-energy facilities. In doing so, Toyota’s project ties regional recovery to climate innovation. …Feedstock: Uses non-food biomass (e.g. wood chips, rice straw, plant waste) instead of edible crops.
FLIN FLON, Manitoba — More than 25,000 residents in three provinces have been evacuated as dozens of wildfires remained active Sunday and diminished air quality in parts of Canada and the US, according to officials. Most of the evacuated residents were from Manitoba, which declared a state of emergency last week. About 17,000 people there were evacuated by Saturday along with 1,300 in Alberta. About 8,000 people in Saskatchewan had been relocated as leaders there warned the number could climb. Smoke was worsening air quality and reducing visibility in Canada and into some US states along the border. “Air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and can vary considerably from hour to hour,” Saskatchewan’s Public Safety Agency warned Sunday. “As smoke levels increase, health risks increase.” …In some parts of the U.S., air quality reached “unhealthy” levels Sunday in North Dakota and small swaths of Montana, Minnesota and South Dakota.
Saskatchewan is battling the worst wildfire it’s seen in decades — including the 300,000-hectare Shoe Fire in northern Saskatchewan — and experts say it’s largely caused by climate change. “This is classic climate change,” said Colin Laroque, head of soil science and professor at the University of Saskatchewan. Laroque said climatology is studied using 30-year timeframes of weather patterns, which “weren’t that different” until recently. …”These are things that we traditionally saw more in June, July and later summer, when everything dried out and then the fires took off,” Laroque said. Saskatchewan is making its way out of a relatively dry period. Few places had snow for long periods of time over winter. In the past, “snowpacks” would take time to fully melt and trickle into the ground as it warmed up. This would recharge the moisture of the soil.
FLIN FLON, Manitoba – Cooler temperatures and a chance of rain this week is expected in a northwestern Manitoba city that’s had to evacuate thousands of people due to wildfire. Environment Canada says temperatures in the mid teens to mid 20s are forecasted this week, with a good chance of rain coming Saturday in Flin Flon. Fire crews have been trying to keep a blaze near Flin Flon at bay, and have said the fire has been contained to outside its perimeter highway. Crews say there have been no structures lost due to the wildfire. More than 17,000 people have been displaced by wildfires in Manitoba, including 5,000 from Flin Flon. Thousands have been affected by wildfires across the Prairie provinces, with Saskatchewan issuing an evacuation alert Sunday morning for dozens of residents in the small northern community of Timber Bay, located about 260 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. [END]
It’s not yet summer, but out-of-control wildfires are raging across Western Canada, fuelled by drought, warmer temperatures and lack of rainfall. Residents in northeastern BC, near Kelly Lake, have fled their homes, as Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared provincial emergencies this week. As of Friday, wildfires in Manitoba had displaced more than 17,000 people. Thousands more have been given evacuation orders because of wildfires in Saskatchewan and Alberta, including 1,300 residents of Swan Hills, a community northwest of Edmonton. …“We did see similar early-season activity like this in the far northeast in 2023 and in 2024 in BC,” said Budd. “That’s really the result of prolonged drought in the region that goes back as early as 2022.” …Manitoba is also facing a dire situation. The Flin Flon fire, located on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border near Creighton, started at a landfill before crossing over the Manitoba border. It has grown to more than 200 square kilometres.
The wildfire season in Nova Scotia has been off to a “slow” start, according to the manager of forest protection with the province’s natural resources department. Scott Tingely told CBC News that so far, the number of fires and the amount of hectares burned are both below average at this point. “We had a pretty cool, wet spring so far, so that has certainly helped kind of mitigate the conditions and the risk,” Tingley said. As of Thursday, 39 fires have burned about 35 hectares across the province so far. …The wildfire situation in Nova Scotia has changed rapidly over the last week, according to data from Natural Resources Canada. On Tuesday, the department listed the fire danger across most of the province as low. And as of Thursday, that classification was raised to high for the bulk of the mainland and Cape Breton.
Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) continues to monitor wildfires across the province, with varying conditions in the northeast and northwest regions. While some fires have been brought under control, others remain active, prompting ongoing suppression efforts and precautionary measures. The northeast region reports two active wildfires, with one recently contained. Sudbury 13, a 0.5-hectare fire near Wikwemikong that was identified on Saturday, was declared out Sunday morning. Cochrane 2, an 8-hectare fire northwest of Attawapiskat, is now under control. Cochrane 3, burning 48 kilometres west of Attawapiskat, remains not under control at 150 hectares. Though the MNR confirms no immediate threats to communities or infrastructure at this time. The northwest region remains a focal point, with 15 active fires and persistent high-risk conditions.