External News

Beijing has worked out a plan to invest up to 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in the next decade on forestation and develop alternative energies.

Wu Jian, a senior engineer with the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference that the trees will fight climate change by absorbing carbon and will produce material for bio-diesel and ethanol fuels by 2020.

The plan aims to have 23 percent of the country covered with forests in 10 years, up 3 percent increase from the current level.

Native forests in India are disappearing at a rate of up to 2.7% per year.

August 2010: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has released a plan of work for 2011-2013, as a part of its 2008-2018 Strategy.

In the plan of work, CIFOR outlines its project plans and how they fall under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research's (CGIAR) system priority alignment. The plan highlights collaborations with international organizations, as well as CIFOR's activities in national and international policy. The plan provides narratives of CIFOR's six projects and the suite of planned outputs from these projects.

The “Son of Black Liquor” tax credits will probably cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions, if not billions, of additional dollars, but Congress might grab the money without paper manufacturers getting a dime.

Seven publicly traded paper companies have estimated that they will net about $570 million from the IRS’ recent ruling that made black liquor eligible for Cellulosic Biofuel Producer credits (CBPC), reports the Press-Register of Mobile, Alabama. Leading the way are Weyerhaeuser with $240 million (pre-tax) and Domtar with $200 million.

The other 14 publicly traded producers of black liquor, including the largest (International Paper), have not released such projections, partly because of uncertainty about exactly what the June 28 ruling means. (See Pulp Manufacturers Scratching Their Heads Over Son of Black Liquor Ruling for more information about these uncertainties.)

Meanwhile, the IRS’ “generosity” toward companies that produce, and burn, black liquor as part of their pulp-making operations has caught the eye of Congress, writes Jeremiah Coder for Tax Analysts. “The agency’s administrative largesse appears to be prompting members of Congress to consider legislation to retroactively disallow biofuel credits for black liquor claims.”

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A forest conservation project backed by Shell, Gazprom Market and Trading and the Clinton Foundation on the island of Borneo has won approval under a carbon accounting standard, reports Reuters.

The Rimba Raya project, which covers nearly 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of peat forest in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, could reduce projected emissions by 75 million metric tons over the next 30 years, generating hundreds of millions in carbon finance under the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) program backed by the U.N. and World Bank.