The pyrolysis behaviour and kinetics of forest shrub wastes (Cytisus multiflorus, Spartium junceum, Acacia dealbata and Pterospartum tridentatum) from the Portuguese Central Inland Region have been studied in a thermobalance, as a previous step for their valorization by pyrolysis in order to obtain fuels and chemicals within the framework of the BioREFINA-Ter project. The kinetic model consists of a multi-component mechanism that describes the volatile formation involving three independent and parallel reaction networks corresponding to the decomposition of the three main biomass pseudo-components: hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin. The thermogravimetric curves and kinetic parameters have been compared with those obtained for other materials, and the chemical features of the biomasses have been determined. Although the samples are highly heterogeneous because of their bark and leaf content, the degradation of these shrubby biomasses is similar to other lignocellulosic materials, evidencing that their valorization by pyrolysis is feasible. (C) 2013 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.