Conservation North director Michelle Connolly recently visited Japan with Ben Parfitt, a policy analyst with the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to discuss the pellet industry.
The trip was organized and supported by three Japanese environmental groups concerned about the loss of natural forests in BC and climate change.
Japan sources more pellets from BC than from any other jurisdiction in the world.
Connolly and Parfitt spoke with public and business audiences and media in Tokyo and Sendai about what an expanding pellet industry means for forests that have never been industrially logged and the risks sourcing them from BC poses to Japan.
“Forestry interests promote the idea that BC forests are managed sustainably, when they are not. We were invited to Japan to tell the public and key decision-makers about what’s happening to at-risk forests and species in this province,” she said.
Connolly and Parfitt met with biomass financiers Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, as well as the Sumitomo Corporation, owner of the Pacific Bioenergy plant in Prince George that shut its doors in 2022.
The duo and their hosts also met with sustainable investment experts, as well as elected officials from both the ruling party and the opposition.
“BC is a high-risk place from which to source pellets. Logging companies have cut down too much forest too quickly. Sawmills, pulp mills and even some pellet mills have closed because too little primary forest is left,” Parfitt told investors and bioindustry officials in Japan.
Japan sources large amounts of wood pellets from forests in British Columbia, the southern United States, and Vietnam. In BC, these pellets are made using slash from logging, sawmill waste and, critically, trees logged expressly for this purpose.
Staff from Global Environmental Forum, Friends of the Earth Japan and Mighty Earth Japan, who sponsored the Japan tour, visited north-central BC last year with Japan’s public broadcaster.
NHK Japan created a segment on BC pellets, which was part of a longer documentary on “greenwashing”, or presenting a practice as positive for the environment when it’s actually harmful.
Connolly’s visit was ahead of B.C. Forests Minister Bruce Ralston’s visit to Japan to showcase the innovation of B.C. wood products.
The five-day trade mission that began on Dec. 10 intended to show how Japan can benefit from B.C.’s high-quality materials, from use in low-carbon homes to mass-timber commercial buildings.
The B.C. delegation included representation from the Ministry of Forests, First Nations delegates and forestry-sector representatives from companies big and small.
“Japan is a long-standing market for B.C. forest products with new opportunities for B.C.’s high-value lumber and manufactured wood products, such as mass timber,” Ralston said.
“The demand for wood building material is growing, and the sustainability and innovation in B.C.’s forestry sector makes it globally recognized as one of the best options to choose from.”
Japan is B.C.’s highest-value and oldest market in Asia for forestry products with B.C. selling forestry products valued at $1.45 billion to Japan in 2022.
This year marks the 100-year anniversary of B.C.’s timber trade relationship with Japan.
