Review article - Peer-reviewed, 2017
Climate change effects of forestry and substitution of carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels
Gustavsson, Leif; Haus, Sylvia; Lundblad, Mattias; Lundström, Anders; Ortiz, Carina; Sathre, Roger; Truong, Nguyen Le; Wikberg, Per-ErikAbstract
We estimate the climate effects of directing forest management in Sweden towards increased carbon storage in forests with more land set-aside for protection, or towards increased forest production for the substitution of carbon-intensive materials and fossil fuels, relative to a reference case of current forest management. We develop various scenarios of forest management and biomass use to estimate the carbon balances of the forest systems, including ecological and technological components, and their impacts on the climate in terms of radiative forcing. The scenario with increased set-aside area and the current level of forest residue harvest resulted in lower cumulative carbon emissions compared to the reference case for the first 90 years, but then showed higher emissions as reduced forest harvest led to higher carbon emissions from energy and material systems. For the reference case of current forest management, increased harvest of forest residues gave increased climate benefits. The most climatically beneficial alternative, expressed as reduced cumulative radiative forcing, in both the short and long terms is a strategy aimed at.high forest production, high residue recovery rate, and high efficiency utilization of harvested biomass. Active forest management with high harvest levels and efficient forest product utilization will provide more climate benefit, compared to reducing harvest and storing more carbon in the forest. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Keywords
Biomass residues; Forest management; Climate change; Radiative forcingPublished in
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews2017, volume: 67, pages: 612-624
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Authors' information
Gustavsson, Leif
Linnaeus University
Haus, Sylvia
Linnaeus University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Resource Management
Ortiz, Carina
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Soil and Environment
Sathre, Roger
Linnaeus University
Truong, Nguyen Le
Linnaeus University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Resource Management
Associated SLU-program
Forest
Climate
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG7 Affordable and clean energy
SDG13 Climate action
SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.09.056
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/79262