OTTAWA - A new study
released today points to promising future for Canada’s Forest
Products Industry.   “The study, The Future
Bio-pathways Project, focuses on the triple bottom line: clean
energy, high employment and economic recovery.

The results are clear - integrating the production of
bio-products and bio-energy into the existing industry is a winner
on all fronts,” says Avrim Lazar, President and CEO of FPAC.



The Future Bio-pathways Project is one of the first and most
exhaustive studies in the world to examine a wide range of options
for renewal of the Canadian forest products industry. The project
involved more than 65 top Canadian experts in fields as diverse as
bio-technology, investment banking and carbon pricing.



“This study produced a blueprint for change that is both surprising
and welcome,” says Lazar. “It places traditional products,
especially lumber and pulp, at the heart of a new, green business
model that has the potential to make the forest products industry a
pivotal force in Canada’s effort to become a clean energy
super-power.  If we follow this new model we will be able to
produce power on the scale of nine nuclear reactors, enough to meet
the energy needs of 2.5 million homes, or one out of every five
homes across Canada.”

On the employment front the research shows that
an integrated mill - one that produces wood, pulp or paper as well
as bio-energy and bio-materials - provides five times as many jobs
as a stand-alone bio-operation.  It also shows that the
industry’s 270,000 jobs will be best sustained by following this
integrated road to recovery.

“Years of intensive research and development have produced
technologies that open up a world of possibility for the forest
products industry in Canada. We can now rapidly convert wood fibre
into a wide variety of high-value products such as bio-fuels to
heat homes or power vehicles as well as bio-chemicals to make
cosmetics, solvents, food additives and renewable plastics,” says
Pierre Lapointe, President and CEO, FPInnovations.

FPAC notes that by integrating the production of bio-products
into existing forestry operations, they will be subject to the same
high and increasingly stringent environmental standards that have
made Canada a world leader in sustainable forest management.



With the international community moving aggressively to realize the
huge gains that stand to be made on the bio-technology front in
forestry, the Canadian government needs to act quickly to
accelerate progressive change in Canada’s own forest products
industry by:

• developing a Made-In-Canada clean energy action plan that will
  help Canada become a clean energy economy and advance the
  development of Canadian technology;  
  
  
  
  



• creating a repayable revolving fund that addresses the need for
  capital investment in clean energy;
  
  
  
  



• leveraging the tax system (e.g.: creating a capital investment
  tax credit similar to the US approach) to encourage private sector
  investment in a new, integrated forest products industry;
  
  
  
  



• expanding and extending existing government programs (eg: 
  commercial adoption and pilot demonstration programs) that drive
  the integration of clean technology in the forest products
  industry;
  
  
  
  



• increasing investment in research, development and
  innovation.

target=”_blank” title=”Click Map for more information”>“This new integrated model will cause investors
to take a fresh and more optimistic look at the economic potential
of Canada’s forest products industry.  That is why governments
should follow this study’s roadmap as it best defines where
investors will want to put their money,” says Don Roberts, Managing
Director, CIBC World Markets and leader of the FPAC study.



 “Our research shows this new bio-pathway is the business
model for the future of Canada’s forest products industry. 
With 300 Canadian communities depending on the health of the forest
products industry for their survival, we must embrace the
opportunities it presents,” says Lazar.