A. Maarit I. Kallio, Victor F. Strîmbu, Helle Gobakken, Terje Gobakken. (2025). Climate change mitigation through alternative uses of Norwegian forest resources. Silva Fennica vol. 59 no. 1 article id 23066. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.23066

Keywords: harvested wood products; forest sector; biofuels; greenhouse gas emissions; bioeconomy; carbon sink

Highlights: Climate effects of Norwegian forests under various policies were examined under parametric uncertainty; Shifting some of wood use to high-emission-saving wood products, climate benefits from Norwegian forests can be increased without increasing harvests; Only in the short-term it is possible to increase the climate benefits by increasing harvest; Investments to bioethanol production likely decrease climate benefits of forests.

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The carbon substitution and storage effects related to Norwegian forests and the forest sector were compared under three potential roundwood harvest scenarios: maintaining harvests at 2021 levels, increasing harvests by 20% due to policies aimed at maximizing economic benefits from the forest sector, and reducing harvests by 20% due to biodiversity concerns. For harvested wood products, both the current product structure and hypothetical alternatives were considered. The carbon stock development in forests was projected using a forestry simulation tool for Norway. Many uncertainties in carbon storage, substitution parameters, and data have been addressed using Monte Carlo simulations. Shifting a portion of pulpwood use to produce wood-based insulation materials and textile fibres was found to increase the climate benefits from the Norwegian forest sector. In contrast, the shift to bioethanol production had only a marginal effect compared to the current production structure. The analysis spanned the next two decades, which is a period relevant to the investment and operational lifespan of industrial facilities. The results suggest that during this time, smarter use of harvested roundwood for HWPs with high carbon substitution benefits can be an effective means of climate change mitigation. However, in the long term, enhancing forest carbon sinks by reducing harvests may be more beneficial for the climate, provided that global efforts to reduce emissions from energy production are successful and lead to a decrease in emissions associated with the production of various materials.

Kallio, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-761X E-mail: maarit.kallio@nmbu.no
Strîmbu, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0588-2036 E-mail: victor.strimbu@nmbu.no
Gobakken, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway E-mail: helle.ross.gobakken@nmbu.no
Gobakken, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5534-049X E-mail: terje.gobakken@nmbu.no

Category : Research article

article id 166, category Research article

Kim Pingoud, Johanna Pohjola, Lauri Valsta. (2010). Assessing the integrated climatic impacts of forestry and wood products. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 1 article id 166. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.166

Keywords: carbon stocks; managed forests; silvicultural guidelines; harvested wood products; energy and material substitution; displacement of fossil carbon emissions

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Managed forests serve as a store of carbon (C) and a renewable source of energy and materials. By using forest products as substitutes for fossil fuels or non-renewable materials, emissions from fossil C sources can be displaced. The efficiency of emissions displacement depends on the product, its lifecycle and the fossil-fuel based reference system that is substituted. Forest management practices have an impact on C stocks in biomass and on the annual supply of products and their mix. There are trade-offs between sequestering C stocks in forests and the climatic benefits obtained by sustainable forest harvesting and using wood products to displace fossil C emissions. This article presents an integrated, steady-state analysis comparing various equilibrium states of managed forests and wood product pools that represent sustainable long-term forestry and wood-use strategies. Two climatic indicators are used: the combined C stock in forests and wood products and the fossil C emissions displaced annually by harvested wood products. The study indicates that long-term strategies could be available that are better according to both indicators than forestry practices based on the existing silvicultural guidelines in Finland. These strategies would involve increasing the basal area and prolonging rotations to produce more sawlogs. Further, the climate benefits appear to be highest in case the sawlog supply is directed to production of long-lived materials substituting for fossil-emission and energy intensive materials and recycled after their useful life to bioenergy.

Pingoud, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044 VTT, Espoo, Finland E-mail: kim.pingoud@vtt.fi
Pohjola, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: jp@nn.fi
Valsta, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: lv@nn.fi

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