Cutting down trees is a good thing... Wait what? | Responsible Wood’s Matt de Jongh

Most of us grew up being told cutting down trees is bad.

But what if the story is far more complex and in Australia’s case, completely misunderstood?

In this episode, Kiarne Treacy sits down with Matt De Jongh, Sustainability Manager at Responsible Wood, Director at Forestry Australia, and a registered forestry professional with more than 25 years in the sector.

Matt unpacks what sustainable forestry actually looks like in Australia, and why certified forests, young regrowth, Indigenous fire management and strict regulation all play a critical role in climate mitigation.

He explains how forest certification works, how chain of custody tracking traces wood from forest to shelf, and why Australia has some of the world’s most stringent forestry laws. You’ll also hear surprising facts about carbon storage in timber, misconceptions about paper use, why young forests absorb more carbon than old ones and why only 10% of the world’s forests are certified.

From the Tiwi Islands’ Indigenous-owned certified forest to the challenges of illegal logging, international regulations and Australia’s growing reliance on imported timber, this conversation reframes almost everything you thought you knew about forestry, climate and circularity.

You’ll hear and learn:

• How chain of custody protects product integrity from forest to store shelf.
• Why certified forestry is not deforestation, and how certification was created to halt deforestation globally.
• How Australia became one of the most forested countries in the world.
• Why young, regrowing forests absorb more carbon than old ones, and what this means for climate mitigation.
• Why paper guilt is misplaced, and why using certified timber and paper can actually support forest regeneration and carbon storage.
• How wood stores carbon for the life of the product, and why architects love building with timber for wellbeing and emissions reasons

This episode is a must-listen for ESG leaders, procurement teams, packaging and circularity specialists, sustainability managers, architects, designers, regulators and anyone who wants a science-based explanation of forestry beyond the noise of social media.

MENTIONS:

• Responsible Wood
• Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• The Ultimate Renewable
• Tiwi Plantations Corporation
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings on forest carbon
• Australian Government State of the Forests Report
• Australia’s illegal logging law reforms
• EU regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR)

LINKS:

Learn more about SustainabilityTracker.com

Learn more about The Sustainable Transformation Podcast

Follow The Sustainable Choice Group on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok

Follow Nova Podcasts on Instagram for videos from the podcast and behind-the-scenes content – @novapodcastsofficial

CREDITS:

Host: Kiarne Treacy

Guest: Matt de Jongh

Guest Company: Responsible Wood

Find more great podcasts like this at novapodcasts.com.au

Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we produced this podcast, the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation.

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