WPAC Report Supporting Japan’s climate goals with Canadian wood pellets By Gordon Murray, Executive Director, Wood Pellet Association of Canada n November 2024, I was part of an Alberta forest industry trade mission to Japan led by the Honourable Todd Loewen, Minister of Forestry and Parks. Participants included Alberta ministry of -ficials and wood products manufacturers, as well as Canada Wood and the Alberta Forest Products Association. The mis -sion’s focus was to strengthen partner -ships and showcase Alberta as a trusted supplier of wood products. It was a busy 10 days that included the annual Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) customer appreciation dinner, Canada Wood’s Wood Forum, the BC Council of Forest Industries 50th An -niversary Reception, a press conference and media interviews, and meetings with Japanese government officials. Japan is the fastest-growing import market in the world for wood pellets, driv -en by the government’s policy initiatives to mitigate pollution from coal and sup -I Photos: WPAC. ported by a long-term feed-in-tariff (FIT) for biomass energy. The country aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero to make Japan a carbon-neutral, decarbon -ized society by 2050 and aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46 per cent by 2030. Canadian wood pellets are “Over the past decade, Canadian pellet exports to Japan grew 27-fold from 2014 (62,000 tonnes) to 2023 (1.70 million tonnes).” 10 Canadian BIOMASS part of the solution for Japan. Canada is well-positioned to support Japan’s climate goals. WPAC recently conducted a Canada-Japan greenhouse gas (GHG) study, which examined GHG emissions for BC wood pellets versus coal use in Japan. The study found that wood pellets fired in Japan produced only 8.37 per cent of the GHG emissions produced by coal (more than a 91-per-cent reduction). CANADIAN WOOD PELLET GROWTH IN JAPAN Over the past decade, Canadian pellet exports to Japan grew 27-fold from 2014 (62,000 tonnes) to 2023 (1.70 million tonnes). Thirty percent of Canadian wood pellet exports to Japan come from Alber -ta (the other 70 percent from British Co -WINTER 2025
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