Renewable Energy Advocacy Position

NAFO supports the development of renewable energy to achieve domestic energy security and independence as a national priority. Renewable energy policy should recognize and treat working forests as an important part of our national renewable energy infrastructure. Such policies should:

Promote Working Forests. Renewable energy policies should fully utilize the potential contributions of private working forests and be aligned with the fundamental economics of private forest ownership.

Promote New Markets. Renewable energy policies should help establish new and emerging markets and support market independence over the long term. Such policies should provide targeted support for research and development, technology transfer and capital investment to benefit both energy production and the production and delivery of energy feedstocks.

Include Definitions Providing Open Market Access. Definitions of qualifying renewable energy feedstocks should provide a level playing field for market access across all feedstock sources and encompass the full range of wood biomass, including:

• Trees and other plants;
• Forest residuals (e.g., tops, branches, stumps, bark, etc); and
• Byproducts of manufacturing (e.g., sawdust, bark, chips, dissolved wood retrieved from the paper-making process, etc).

Take Full Advantage of the Mitigation Benefits of Wood Biomass. Wood biomass provides a feedstock option for renewable energy that can substitute for more carbon intensive energy sources such as fossil fuels. Renewable energy policies should recognize and take full advantage of these benefits and should continue to recognize the treatment of wood biomass as a carbon neutral source of electricity, steam and heat generation.

Accurately Apply Life Cycle Analysis.  Using analytical methods that are verifiable and meet common standards for accuracy and precision, life cycle analysis is an appropriate means of measuring net carbon impacts of renewable energy feedstocks.

Appropriately Consider Land Use Effects. Appropriate analysis of land use effects should address impacts consistently across feedstock types and include factors that are under the direct control of the landowner and that can be monitored and accurately measured. Analysis of indirect land use effects should also apply consistent and reliable methods for measuring impacts and be transparent with respect to accuracy and precision.

Recognize and Support Established Methods for Demonstrating and Verifying Sustainability. Forest owners use a variety of credible methods to demonstrate or verify sustainability based on ownership type and local conditions. Sustainability requirements in renewable energy policies should recognize and support established methods for demonstrating and verifying sustainability and be applied fairly and consistently across feedstock types and technologies.