“Wood miles” stack up in New Zealand’s favour

Media Release from NZ Wood        
 
 Wednesday 29 July 2009

“Wood miles” stack up in New Zealand’s favour

 It can be just as environmentally friendly to ship timber from New Zealand to distant markets than it is for those markets to use timber sourced more locally, a new study shows.

 In one of the most detailed studies of its kind in New Zealand, a report just published by Nelson Forests Ltd details the complete carbon footprint of a New Zealand forestry operation from “cradle to market”.

Author Dan McCallum says his research threw up some interesting results.

The fact that ocean freight is five to ten times more efficient than road transport in terms of carbon emissions was just one of the key findings.

In the New Zealand context, trucking timber from Nelson to Christchurch has the same carbon footprint as shipping it all the way to Australia, Mr McCallum says

Couple this with the low carbon footprint of log products produced in New Zealand’s plantation forests, and in terms of the export market, New Zealand’s log products are “just as competitive if not more competitive on a carbon basis as those of our leading competitors”, he says.

“Especially if those products are themselves coming a long distance by ship and/or a significant distance by road or land transport.”

A truck carting logs 900 km for instance – roughly Nelson to Southland – would produce the same emissions as freighting the logs by sea to Asia.

Programme manager of NZ Wood, Geoff Henley, says the study confirms that not only can New Zealand’s sustainably-grown plantation wood products compete well on price internationally, they can also compete environmentally.

“That’s the great thing about Dan’s study – we’ve now got the rigorous data to back it up.”

“This sort of information will be hugely valuable to companies selling internationally – and for the NZ Wood brand.”

In terms of both logs and lumber, for Nelson Forests distribution can account for up to 80 percent of the carbon emissions associated with the production and supply of timber from cradle to market, the study showed.

In absolute terms, while ocean freight is the most efficient form of transport, because of its market profile, 41 percent of the carbon emissions from Nelson Forest’s log supply chain is attributable to log export.

Mr McCallum’s snapshot of Nelson Forest’s operations in 2007 calculated the carbon footprint of its logs supplied to the domestic market at 18.7 kg of CO2 per cubic metre and at 65.1 kg of CO2 per cubic metre for its export operations. These figures would vary over time along with any variation in the geographic locations of its principal markets.
In terms of processed lumber products, for Nelson Forests kiln drying of timber accounted for the biggest share of emissions – up to 85 percent.

 But because the heat required at the company’s Kaituna sawmill is generated by burning waste wood product, this is deemed carbon neutral and discounted from carbon footprint calculations.*

Excluding the emissions associated with burning wood to heat the kilns, emissions for the products produced in the sawmill range from 27 to 148 kg CO2 per cubic metre of lumber.

Similar to the emission profile for logs, and depending upon the location of the market the intensity of the processing the products have undergone, distribution can account for up to 80 percent of the emissions associated with the lumber products produced by the sawmill.

Mr McCallum’s study shows that all lumber products that Nelson Forests produces are net repositories of CO2. Assuming a very conservative service life of 30 years, 270 kg of CO2 per cubic metre of stored carbon can be credited towards those products.

If research is accepted that suggests wood can store most of its carbon indefinitely at the end of its service life if buried in properly designed landfills, wood could be credited with an even greater capacity for storing carbon permanently.

Daniel McCallum’s study also pointed to several ways in which emissions could be further reduced in both the forestry and transport side of operations.

Using waste wood rather than waste oil to generate heat for drying saw dust could significantly reduce emissions further. Using larger ships, ensuring trucks are fully laden and even substituting road transport for coastal shipping in the New Zealand market could result in additional emission savings.

[* Note: because trees absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide when they are growing, releasing the CO2 by burning is considered carbon neutral.]

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