The Ontario government is…

The Ontario government is also largely selling the forest biomass industry as a circular economy because they claim that it only uses “mill by-products” aka, waste wood, to manufacture wood pellets. However, many Canadian provinces including Ontario are logging whole trees from primary forests to meet the growing demand for wood pellets. One of the key objectives (objective 3) of this action plan includes, “streamline permitting and reduce regulatory burden for all sectors which use forest biomass,” which is concerning because that essentially means there would be fewer environmental checkpoints. Ontario has already gutted the Endangered Species Act, which is a key regulatory body.

The argument to expand the forest-biomass industry, particularly the wood pellet sector, to provide low-carbon jobs in replacement of fossil fuel jobs isn’t valid. Amidst an ever growing climate crisis, we simply can’t afford to keep chopping down forests to make a fuel that emits immense amounts of carbon dioxide. Moreover, it can take centuries for forests to regain the majority of their carbon storage after being logged. Once again, wood pellets are a false climate solution.