Japan sources more pellets from BC than from any other jurisdiction in the world.

As reported by Business in Vancouver, Conservation North visited Japan with policy analyst Ben Parfitt of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in December. We were invited and sponsored by Global Environment Forum, Friends of the Earth Japan and Mighty Earth Japan to meet Japanese policymakers, politicians, media and the public.

Connolly and Parfitt spoke with public and business audiences in Tokyo and Sendai about what an expanding pellet industry means for primary forests, and the risks sourcing them from BC poses to Japan. “Forestry interests promote the idea that BC forests are managed sustainably, when they are not. We were invited to Japan to tell the public and key decision-makers about what’s happening to at-risk forests and species in this province,” Connolly said.

“BC is a high-risk place from which to source pellets. Logging companies have cut down too much forest too quickly. Sawmills, pulp mills and even some pellet mills have closed because too little primary forest is left,” Parfitt told investors and industry officials in Japan.

Staff from Global Environmental Forum, Friends of the Earth Japan and Mighty Earth Japan, visited north-central BC in 2022 with Japan’s public broadcaster. NHK Japan created this segment on BC pellets, which was part of a longer documentary on “greenwashing”, or presenting a practice as positive for the environment when it’s actually harmful.

In BC, wood pellets are made using slash from logging, sawmill waste, and forests logged expressly for this purpose. Two excellent documentaries on logging for pellets were released last year: BBC Panorama’s The Green Energy Scandal Exposed and CBC Fifth Estate’s The Big Burn.

In late 2023, Conservation North and the Bulkley Valley Stewardship Coalition addressed a UK audience at a webinar hosted by Biofuelwatch, a key ally organization in a significant market for BC pellets. Watch Frontline voices on the impacts of tree burning here.

Our director spoke with CBC Daybreak North’s host Carolina De Ryk about our recent mission to Japan with Ben Parfitt of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Click on the video or on this link to listen.