Questioning the assumption that all carbon stored inside trees is released by logging, new research suggests the environmental benefit of using wood products is greatly underestimated.

Assessment of wood products in carbon trading would immediately increase the dollar value of carbon, because the penalty currently paid at the time of harvesting trees would be greatly reduced, according to NSW Department of Primary Industries forestry researcher, Fabiano Ximenes.

"Carbon accounting schemes worldwide fail to recognise that wood continues to store carbon long after the trees it comes from are felled," Mr Ximenes said.

Mr Ximenes recently completed a review of the state of knowledge about carbon storage in wood products in Australia for the Federal Government’s Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation.

Most research in this area, undertaken within the last 10 years, found that wood products can significantly extend carbon sequestration benefits provided by forests.

Mr Ximenes said one study found the total carbon in wood products in Europe is equal to about 30 per cent of the carbon in European forests - and this did not take into account carbon stored in wood products in landfills.

Research for the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting (CRCGA) into the life cycle of wood products in Australia shows that once wood is discarded in landfills, only a small percentage decomposes, and hence it continues to store carbon.

An estimated 25 million cubic metres of logs are harvested from Australian forests each year - the equivalent of eight million tonnes of carbon or 30 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents.

"Depending on the type of product manufactured and how it is disposed of at the end of its life, the carbon will remain locked up in the product for many decades," Mr Ximenes said.

He said that a method proposed by the CRCGA of assessing carbon storage, when applied to Australia (not including paper products), estimated that 70pc of the carbon in commercial logs could be considered to remain in long-term storage, either as products in use, in landfills or through avoided fossil fuel use.

Mr Ximenes said "the inclusion of wood products in carbon trading schemes would make carbon trading a more attractive proposition for those in forestry or wood products industries.

"There could be an immediate increase in revenues from carbon sequestration and further incentives to establish forests."

Increased carbon revenue could also help offset the cost of environmental plantings for biodiversity, salinity and catchment management purposes.

The benefits of using wood products are reflected in their environmental performance when compared to alternative materials.

The manufacture of wood products requires less energy than competing materials and often utilises the waste generated to obtain production energy.

This fact is reflected in research that shows that the use of wood products can reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with house construction.

"For example, a CRCGA study estimated that more than 25 tonnes of CO2 equivalents would be saved if a typical onestorey house in Sydney was built primarily using wood products."

Mr Ximenes said the greenhouse benefits of wood compared to other materials are yet to be properly recognised in energy rating schemes.

"This may significantly disadvantage the use of wood products," he said.

"Wood products are also disadvantaged when life cycle assessments compare the environmental credentials of materials."

Read Mr Ximenes’ review at www.fwprdc.org.au/content/pdfs/new%20pdfs/AMENDED%20final%20reportWEBDRAFT%20(4).pdf.

Contact Fabiano Ximenes, 02 9872 0111, fabianox@sf.nsw.gov.au.