A new report from the American Forest & Paper Association lays out the ways that technology can be put to work in reducing the forestry sector's environmental impacts.

The Forest Products Industry Technology Roadmap is a call to the world's researchers to develop strategies that can bring the industry to the next level in six key areas:

1. Reduce substantially carbon emissions and energy consumption in mills and plants;
2. Reduce fresh water intake in manufacturing at least 50 percent;
3. Increase the supply of high-quality fiber and low-cost biomass;
4. Increase the value from high-quality fiber and low-cost biomass;
5. Enable the development of new products and product features; and
6. Improve recovery and recycling of waste wood and fiber products

The roadmap was developed by the Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance, with the goal of advancing the technological state of the art of forestry.

"Investment in technology can dramatically reduce manufacturing costs and enable individual companies to pursue progress in new and advanced products," the report says. "A robust industry-driven R&D program is an important building block in changing the image of the industry to investors and the public. Breakthrough R&D is the best path for achieving the product innovations and reductions in manufacturing costs that are necessary for a sustainable economic future long-term."

The new roadmap is a follow-on to one created four years ago by the Agenda 2020 Alliance. In the intervening time, a number of economic, environmental and societal shifts have occurred that led the industry to revisit its roadmap.

Most notably, the industry's need to address greenhouse gas emissions is driving its fresh look at technological solutions. But another key driver is the growth of biofuels, which can be made using forest biomass, and can affect the supply of forest biomass for traditional pulp, paper and wood products, leading to competition between the forestry and biofuel industries.

The figure below from the Roadmap offers an example of how the report lays out the R&D needs for the first of six goals, reducing carbon emissions.

"The forest products industry is committed to improving the environment that makes our future success possible," said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman in a statement. "We have made great strides in our sustainability efforts so far, and we are committed to doing more. The 2010 Roadmap will help us achieve the breakthrough technologies needed to continue our progress while strengthening our leadership in the use of renewable energy and efficient manufacturing processes that are better for the environment and better for business."

The full report is available for download from Agenda2020.org.

Photo CC-licensed by Flickr user Nicholas_T.