Ministerial Release
Forestrys climate change opportunity
21st March, 2007
The forestry industry is poised to capitalise on the opportunities provided to it by climate change, the Minister for Forestry and Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz, said to the National Association of Forest Industries' annual conference in Canberra today.
"Forestry is the only carbon positive sector of the economy", the Minister said.
"By 2010, it is estimated that plantations established since 1990 will offset some 21 million tonnes of Australia's total carbon dioxide emissions per year.1
"This is without taking into account carbon dioxide sequestered in timber and timber products currently in circulation."
The Minister said that the forestry sector was poised to grasp the opportunities presented by both emissions trading and bio-energy.
"I must admit I was more than a little amused a month or so ago when I saw Al Gore, team up with Richard Branson to announce a $32 million prize for the scientist who comes up with a way of extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere", the Minister said.
"Hello! Check the science. That machine's already been created. It's called trees!"
"If we do move to a national emissions trading scheme, the forestry industry is well placed to benefit enormously from this, due to this ability to sequester carbon dioxide."
In relation to bioenergy, the Minister committed to working hard to make sure that bioenergy was fully considered as a low-emission energy option.
"Bioenergy is a truly carbon-neutral energy creation process.
"By burning wood residue from timber harvesting to create energy, not only is much less carbon released into atmosphere than the tree originally took out (and certainly much less than other options, such as coal), and the forest industry is able to utilise a previously wasted resource."