Supporting Japan’s Climate Goals with Canadian Wood Pellets
By Gordon Murray, Executive Director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada
In November 2024, I was part of an Alberta forest industry Trade Mission to Japan led by the Honourable Todd Loewen, Minister of Forestry and Parks. Participants included Alberta ministry officials and wood products manufacturers, as well as Canada Wood and the Alberta Forest Products Association. The mission’s focus was to strengthen partnerships and showcase Alberta as a trusted supplier of wood products.
It was a busy ten days that included the annual Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) customer appreciation dinner, Canada Wood’s Wood Forum, the BC Council of Forest Industries 50th Anniversary Reception, a press conference and media interviews, and meetings with Japanese government officials.
Japan is the fastest-growing import market in the world for wood pellets, driven by the government’s policy initiatives to mitigate pollution from coal and supported by a long-term feed-in-tariff (FIT) for biomass energy. The country aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero to make Japan a carbon-neutral, decarbonized society by 2050 and aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46 percent by 2030. Canadian wood pellets are part of the solution for Japan.
Canada is well-positioned to support Japan’s climate goals. WPAC recently conducted a Canada-Japan greenhouse gas (GHG) study, which examined GHG emissions for BC wood pellets versus coal use in Japan. The study found that wood pellets fired in Japan produced only 8.37 percent of the GHG emissions produced by coal (more than a 91 percent reduction).