DEAR SIR,

I wish to correct a statement by Thomas Duffy in last week’s article “Setting the record straight on carbon sequestration”.

He wrote that once you “cut a forest down and burn it you have emissions” and that in order to increase carbon sequestration “you need to add extra acres of forest sucking down carbon”.

Storing carbon

In Ireland, we never cut down a forest and burn it. Instead, when a forest is harvested the wood is used mainly in construction where it displaces fossil-based materials such as concrete and steel, stores carbon for up to a century and also for board products, for fencing where it also acts as a carbon sink for the duration of its life.

It can also be used for pallets where it is recycled numerous times. The final resort is to burn it for renewable energy where it displaces imported oil.

Sustainable material

Wood, after it leaves the forest, is singled out in the Climate Action Plan as a major sustainable material – not only in prolonging its carbon storage, but also in displacing fossil-based materials such as concrete and steel.

In addition, unlike concrete and steel, wood is renewable and can act as a perfect companion to other crops on the family farm.