During a meeting with the Scottish Cabinet on Tuesday the UK Forest Products Association (UKFPA) raised concerns about the impact of large-scale biomass plants on wood supply.
Executive director David Sulman acknowledged the Scottish government’s plans to increase tree cover from the current level of 17% to 25% by 2050 and asked whether it would increase its focus on developing renewable energy from waste, which he said, “appears to offer benefits for all concerned, not least in reducing our dependence on landfill and avoiding the squandering of Scotland’s valuable wood resource on large-scale electricity generation”.
Rural affairs and environment secretary Richard Lochhead emphasised the importance of Scotland’s forestry and forest products sector and its role in tackling climate change and developing a low carbon economy. Acknowledging the industry’s concerns about the threats posed by large-scale wood energy plants Mr Lochhead said the government “must ensure that we achieve the right balance and not disadvantage one sector whilst trying to help another and we must also protect jobs”.
He also recognised there was scope for further development of renewable energy from waste and that the issue of timber going to landfill had to be addressed. “We should get some value from waste and landfill by generating energy, which will help us to meet our renewable energy targets,” said Mr Lochhead, adding he was keen to work with various partners, including UKFPA, on the issue.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Sulman said Mr Lochhead’s acknowledgement of the importance of the forest products sector was heartening. “However, we must ensure that Scotland’s forest resource is not squandered in the rush for renewable energy,” he said. “There’s a risk that huge volumes of wood, which would be better used for product manufacture, being burnt in large-scale electricity generating plants, thereby losing the valuable opportunity of locking up carbon in wood products for long periods. It’s for this reason that we will continue to press for further development of renewable energy from waste.”
