However, Mr Lean goes on to say, the following:
"The US [wood chip supply] industry and Drax ... say they only use by-products from logging – waste wood, treetops and branches unsuitable for the sawmills, similarly rejected diseased or crooked trees, and ones that have been thinned out of forests to improve growth ... and make the powerful point that since sawmill wood is many times more expensive they would be mad to use it for pellets. But this dispute seems, shall we say, to miss the wood for the trees. The danger surely is that greatly increased demand for the by-products will – as a new US government study shows – make the logging business more profitable, and thus lead to more felling. Indeed, there are some signs that this may already be happening in hardwood forest. "
He seems to be saying that increasing demand for wood-chip from by-products from the logging industry is bad for the environment, since it increases economic drivers for the main wood products, leading to deforestation.
The solution to this, in my view, is nearly the same as above - to ensure that all forests eventually obtain FSC certification, so that increased demand for wood products, as well as by-products, is part of an environmentally sustainable supply chain. I would extend this further, though, by adding that, as Planetary CFO, I would look at this within the context of the planetary balance of forestry, other land use, ecological systems and carbon cycles as part of the management of the World Balance Sheet. When this is done, we will be able to see the impacts of any decisions about sourcing of wood for energy, choice of fuels (eg between coal and wood) and will be able to properly respond in ways that move us towards a truly sustainable future on a planetary scale.