Fiscal year 2022-2023 was marked by the long-awaited return to normalcy in our social and professional activities. Throughout, FPInnovations was committed to its role of honest broker in support of all stakeholders in the forest sector. The organization has continued its work towards realizing the maximum value from forest fibre and delivering results that will improve the sector while contributing to a reduction in the country’s carbon footprint.

Over the past year, FPInnovations continued to work diligently to increase service to Members, partners, and stakeholders with the launch of an improved engagement model. The model facilitates increased engagement and collaboration between all parties as the sector adapts to the new realities dictated by transformed economic and climatic environments.

A targeted approach
This commitment to collaboration has resulted in a focused approach to identifying and developing promising research projects and to creating new product platforms for future markets. To that end, the FPInnovations’ team undertook an extensive brainstorming process aimed at reducing the total number of projects, selecting those that will result in a greater overall impact. The objective was simple: better meet the research needs of the sector and create value, while offering higher economic and environmental value.
With this in mind, we opted for a similar approach for the Strategic Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) meetings, bringing multiple sectors together at the same time in a hybrid meeting format, to create increased collaboration and understanding between a diverse set of stakeholders.

Proven results
We are particularly proud this year of the work accomplished by our research teams, which generated impressive results in the following areas:
Measuring the substitution and carbon intensity via a platform for assessing the potential reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions when replacing conventional products, typically of fossil origin, with forest-based products;

• Lime kiln decarbonization strategy aimed to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from kraft pulp mills by using local forest residues to replace fossil fuels that are currently used to power kilns;
• Validation of a lignin-modified asphalt pavement, a green technology that could improve the performance of Canadian roads by replacing a percentage of the bitumen used in pavements with lignin, a natural glue found in the wood of Canadian forests;
• Publication of a wood building modelling guide, which involved more than 100 international collaborators, and that helps to reduce the environmental footprint through the digitized design and analysis of wood structures;
• Ongoing research on wildfire and on ways of helping people to be better prepared, while putting responder safety first.

Work continues…
Thanks to the richness of the forest resource and its incredible potential for producing biobased products, the forest industry offers significant opportunity to contribute to Canada’s climate change objectives.
And as climate change increasingly reminds us that we need to act quickly, we continue our work with determination and are ready to face the challenges ahead. All of these efforts would not be possible without the amazing support of our members, partners, and in particular, our personnel, and we sincerely thank each of you for it.
The next year has already begun, and we can already envision promising results. But there is still work to be done, as we continue to work on behalf of our members, society, and the environment.