Forest-based climate change mitigation : towards improved climate impact assessments of forest-based systems

Sammanfattning

The forest-based sector plays a crucial role in contributing to urgently required climate change mitigation. To assess this mitigation potential, a system perspective is required. This accounts likewise for the biogenic carbon balances of forests and wood products, as well as for the fossil greenhouse gas emissions of the forest value chain, and those emissions avoided from replaced products, i.e., substitution effects. However, within a system perspective of the forest-based sector, great spatial and temporal complexity, feedback effects and trade-offs exist among possible mitigation measures. This thesis aims at improving the understanding of climate impacts in the forest-based sector from a system perspective to support more effective design of climate change mitigation measures. To that end, four forestbased systems were analyzed across different scales (product vs. market scale) and assessment approaches (supply-driven vs. demand driven) by integrating forest modelling data and life cycle assessment methodology. The overall results indicate that methodological decisions, especially assessment scale and approach, highly influence the estimated climate impact. Within a system perspective, the forest carbon sink has the most important contribution for climate change mitigation. Substitution effects can be misjudged if a supply-driven assessment approach is applied, while a demand-driven approach ensures a more realistic estimation. Future climate impact assessments from a system perspective should focus first on the question of which societal functions (e.g. housing) can expect which demand projection, and second, what role wood can play to fulfil the functions. Only after that should possible substitution effects be calculated, followed by estimating changes in the stored biogenic carbon in wood products, and lastly, the alteration of the forest carbon sink.

Nyckelord

forest-based sector; climate change mitigation; substitution effect; life cycle assessment; forest management; timber construction; paper recycling; bioeconomy

Publicerad i

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2024, nummer: 2024:73ISBN: 978-91-8046-364-5, eISBN: 978-91-8046-400-0Utgivare: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

SLU författare

• Schulte, Maximilian

  • Institutionen för energi och teknik, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

UKÄ forskningsämne

Annan naturresursteknik
Skogsvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54612/a.6lj2u9l17n

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/130468