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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2014

Potential Roles of Swedish Forestry in the Context of Climate Change Mitigation

Lundmark, Tomas; Bergh, Johan; Hofer, Peter; Lundström, Anders; Nordin, Annika; Poudel, Chandra Bishnu; Sathre, Roger; Taverna, Ruedi; Werner, Frank

Abstract

In Sweden, where forests cover more than 60% of the land area, silviculture and the use of forest products by industry and society play crucial roles in the national carbon balance. A scientific challenge is to understand how different forest management and wood use strategies can best contribute to climate change mitigation benefits. This study uses a set of models to analyze the effects of different forest management and wood use strategies in Sweden on carbon dioxide emissions and removals through 2105. If the present Swedish forest use strategy is continued, the long-term climate change mitigation benefit will correspond to more than 60 million tons of avoided or reduced emissions of carbon dioxide annually, compared to a scenario with similar consumption patterns in society but where non-renewable products are used instead of forest-based products. On average about 470 kg of carbon dioxide emissions are avoided for each cubic meter of biomass harvested, after accounting for carbon stock changes, substitution effects and all emissions related to forest management and industrial processes. Due to Sweden's large export share of forest-based products, the climate change mitigation effect of Swedish forestry is larger abroad than within the country. The study also shows that silvicultural methods to increase forest biomass production can further reduce net carbon dioxide emissions by an additional 40 million tons of per year. Forestry's contribution to climate change mitigation could be significantly increased if management of the boreal forest were oriented towards increased biomass production and if more wood were used to substitute fossil fuels and energy-intensive materials.

Keywords

forest growth; harvest; substitution; carbon dioxide; abroad; in-country

Published in

Forests
2014, volume: 5, number: 4, pages: 557-578
Publisher: MDPI AG

Authors' information

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Ecology and Management
Bergh, Johan
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre
Hofer, Peter
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Resource Management
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology
Poudel, Chandra Bishnu
Sathre, Roger
Taverna, Ruedi
Werner, Frank

Associated SLU-program

SLU Future Forests

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG13 Climate action
SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f5040557

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/59881