Canada is pressing the European Union to ease its deforestation rules as the two sides pursue closer ties. In related news: Canada’s Ambassador wants relief for low-risk countries; while revised EUDR rules now exempt used timber, bamboo and rattan. In other Business news: Kimberly Clarke seeks EU approval of Kenvue deal; a BC court rejects a Teal-Jones transaction that would extinguish fibre agreements; CMHC says US tariffs could make more lumber available for housing; and a proposed US diesel export ban raises concerns for Canada’s economy, and Louisiana’s timber industry.
In Forestry/Climate news: Washington may join the California-Quebec carbon market; acres of California’s forest offsets are destroyed by fire; an insurance report says boreal fires impact US supply chains; the US Endowment supports markets for Tribal forest products; pellet experts warn of challenging years ahead; and Domtar supports Indigenous forestry students. Meanwhile: Charlotte breaks ground on a mass-timber firehouse; and a needleworm outbreak is taking the gold out of Banff’s famous fall larches.
Finally, congratulations to Robert Kozak on his second 5-year term as Dean of Forestry & Environmental Stewardship at UBC.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The British Columbia Supreme Court has refused to approve a proposed reverse vesting transaction (RVO) for Teal-Jones Group that would have wiped out long-standing fibre supply agreements tied to TFL 46, finding that TimberWest and Domtar held proprietary interests that should not be extinguished. The Monitor argued that the sale of the Surrey Mill and TFL 46 to Gillfor Manufacturing was the best available transaction and that removing the agreements was necessary to preserve the business, but the Court found no sufficient evidence that the agreements were uneconomic or would prevent Gillfor from operating the assets. With the agreements priced at fair market value and their termination expected to cause significant prejudice to TimberWest and Domtar, the Court declined to approve the transaction unless they remained in place. …The prejudice to Domtar if the supply agreements were extinguished would be significant. 
A US diesel export ban could become a self-defeating exercise that would do little to ease high US fuel prices but could worsen supply and economic disruptions around the globe, analysts said. US President Donald reportedly said on Tuesday he backed the idea of a ban. Average US diesel prices have jumped to a record $6.5107 a gallon. Diesel is critical to the global economy because it powers transportation, farm equipment and the machinery used to make and move goods. High fuel prices stoke inflation — already a pain point for Trump and Republicans. …”Given that a surplus of diesel in the US could paradoxically force American refiners to cut supplies of oil products – potentially within a few weeks – a ban would ultimately be self-defeating,” Capital Economics said in a note. Restricting US diesel exports would wreak havoc on fuel markets in the US and abroad.
Developing formaldehyde-free and high-performance wood adhesives is imperative for sustainable wood utilization. To overcome performance trade-offs in lignin adhesives, we developed a formaldehyde-free aqueous adhesive formulation via reactive cysteine-functionalized lignin, achieving high performance with an unprecedentedly low lignin loading (20 wt %), which is sprayable and injectable and exhibits excellent fluidity. It undergoes self-curing via forming amide bond, achieving robust bonding performance under simple hot-pressing conditions. The solvent-free lignin adhesive for plywood outperforms commercial resins, demonstrating exceptional dry strength (4.0 MPa), high wet-strength retention (83.7%), and superior durability against extreme temperatures (−196° to 190°C), humid heat aging, and solvents. …This work establishes an environmentally friendly and scalable strategy for constructing full bio-based adhesives with exceptional processability and durability, providing a paradigm for lignin valorization within lignin-first biorefinery frameworks.
Timber traders, pallet makers, and furniture suppliers selling into Europe will not have to trace bamboo, rattan, or used and second-hand wood to a forest plot after the European Commission’s rewrite of the EU Deforestation Regulation’s product list came into force on Friday. That is according to 
HDI Risk Consulting has published a new climate risk assessment of Canada’s Boreal Forest using its modelling platform, mapping how heat stress, drought, wildfire, water scarcity and permafrost thaw interact across a region spanning Canada, Alaska and the northern US. The analysis is part of HRC’s Iconic Landmarks series, applying spatial climate data to identify where physical risk concentrates and how it cascades into business interruption for the forestry, mining, energy and transport sectors that depend on the region. “Climate risk moves through interconnected systems. The Boreal Forest is a clear example of that interaction,” said Wiebke Cundill, HRC’s team lead for natural hazards and climate risk analysis. …Given how much Canadian lumber, energy and minerals feed directly into US manufacturing and construction, HRC’s point, that “a wildfire in Canada can quickly become a US business problem,” is grounded in real, measurable trade data rather than a general climate-adjacency claim.
MONTRÉAL — Domtar is proud to announce a $25,000 contribution to Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries and Scholarships program. Helping to remove financial barriers, the program supports First Nations, Inuit and Métis students across Canada to pursue and complete post-secondary education. “Education creates opportunity and strengthens communities,” said Luc Thériault, Domtar’s President – Canada and CEO, Pulp and Wood Products. “We’re proud to partner with Indspire to help Indigenous students achieve their educational goals and create pathways to rewarding careers.” …Domtar’s contribution will be matched by the Government of Canada, doubling the impact of the donation and bringing the total value of support for Indigenous students to $50,000. …Indspire is a national Indigenous charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. …Domtar has previously supported Indigenous students through Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures program, including students pursuing forestry and forestry-related studies.
PORTLAND — Sustainable Northwest (
LOUISIANA — Governor Jeff Landry issued an 
Taking the stage at Climate Week in New York City, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his authorization to move forward with linking Washington into its carbon market that’s shared with Quebec, Canada, the next-to-last step in California’s process to complete the merger. On the same day, Washington state officials completed the rulemaking process to allow the linkage. California and Quebec will still need to complete regulatory changes, the final step, before merging can occur. In June, the three jurisdictions signed a linkage agreement to fully join operations in 2027. Washington hopes that joining the older and well-established carbon market will stabilize prices for businesses, which have swung wildly in recent years on the state’s 5-year-old market. …For more than a decade, California’s carbon market has sought to cut climate pollution by setting a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and requiring major polluters to buy allowances to cover their share of emissions. In 2014, its market linked with Quebec. 
During the Wood Pellet Association of Canada 2026 Conference in Victoria, B.C., the Emerging Competition & Market Dynamics panel discussion focused on the global wood pellet market and how it is entering a period of rapid change and intensifying competition. …the panel was comprised of Hannah Adler, Argus Media; William Strauss, FutureMetrics; Manolis Karampinis, Bioenergy Europe; and Didzis Palejs, Latvian Biomass Association. The panel addressed the potential for long-term oversupply in the wood pellet market caused by the expected reduction in demand from the Drax Group’s power station in the U.K. …While the wood pellet sector is expected to go through a few rough years, Strauss believes the future for the sector remains bright. …While Japan remains a key customer of wood pellets for Canada, Adler said that demand has slowed down with the phasing out of the Feed-in-Tariff and Feed-in-Premium schemes.
The wildfires that have raged across Oregon and Washington this year burned millions of acres. But beyond the immediate destruction, the fires have destroyed something less visible: tens of millions of dollars in California carbon credits, paid for by businesses and consumers under the state’s climate mandates. The fires have scorched tens of thousands of acres enrolled in forest-carbon projects under California’s cap-and-trade program. The system allows companies to meet part of the state’s climate rules by purchasing credits from forest owners… sometimes outside of the state. The destruction is the latest evidence that California’s forest-offset program is ineffective at best, counterproductive at worst. …California has tried to account for wildfire risks by establishing a “buffer pool,” to which each project is required to contribute as a kind of insurance policy. When a fire destroys a forest-carbon project, credits from the pool are canceled to cover the loss. But this approach has proven inadequate. 
Aden Pellet Enerji, a subsidiary of Pasifik Holding, has completed an export shipment of 3,375 tonnes of Green Planet branded wood pellets from its production facility in Giresun’s Espiye district, dispatched via 125 containers through Giresun Port to buyers across the European Union and the United Kingdom, with Italy and Slovenia identified as primary destinations. The shipment forms part of an ongoing export programme rather than a standalone transaction, with Pasifik Holding indicating that Aden Pellet’s international commercial operations continue on an established basis. This positions the company within Turkey’s growing wood pellet export sector, which has increasingly targeted European biomass markets as demand for solid biofuel continues to be shaped by EU renewable energy directives and member states’ efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for heating and power generation.
Don’t miss this highly anticipated session with Lars Kjellberg at CELCO 2026. Fifteen years ago, the dissolving pulp industry was entering what many believed would be a golden age. Demand forecasts pointed to unprecedented growth. Prices surged to record levels. New investments poured into the sector as producers rushed to capture what appeared to be a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But what actually happened? At CELCO 2026, renowned industry and financial markets expert Lars Kjellberg will take attendees through one of the most fascinating chapters in dissolving pulp history and explain why the industry’s next phase may look very different from the last. More importantly, Lars will share his perspective on whether the industry is now entering a period of tighter supply-demand balances, improving pricing conditions, and stronger returns.