Assessing the greenhouse gas effects of harvested wood products manufactured from managed forests in Canada

Chen, Jiaxin; Ter‐Mikaelian, Michael T.; Yang, Hongqiang; Colombo, S. J.

doi:10.1093/forestry/cpx056

Cited by 45 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…However, our results contrast of those of Harmon, Ferrell, and Franklin (1990) who assumed much lower efficiencies in the conversion of harvested wood to long-lived products and bioenergy. Therefore, the role of forests for climate change mitigation may depend on regional differences in how forests are managed and wood is used, and the specific accounting methodologies (e.g., Chen, Ter-Mikaelian, Yang, & Colombo, 2018). The major effect of the wood flow in the economic system is the final use of the energy embedded in wood products, which can be used as bioenergy, substituting fossil fuels.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The climate change mitigation effect of bioenergy from sustainably managed forests in Central Europe

et al. 2020

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We compare sustainably managed with unmanaged forests in terms of their contribution to climate change mitigation based on published data. For sustainably managed forests, accounting of carbon (C) storage based on ecosystem biomass and products as required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is not sufficient to quantify their contribution to climate change mitigation. The ultimate value of biomass is its use for biomaterials and bioenergy. Taking Germany as an example, we show that the average removals of wood from managed forests are higher than stated by official reports, ranging between 56 and 86 mill. m3 year−1 due to the unrecorded harvest of firewood. We find that removals from one hectare can substitute 0.87 m3 ha−1 year−1 of diesel, or 7.4 MWh ha−1 year−1, taking into account the unrecorded firewood, the use of fuel for harvesting and processing, and the efficiency of energy conversion. Energy substitution ranges between 1.9 and 2.2 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1 depending on the type of fossil fuel production. Including bioenergy and carbon storage, the total mitigation effect of managed forest ranges between 3.2 and 3.5 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1. This is more than previously reported because of the full accounting of bioenergy. Unmanaged nature conservation forests contribute via C storage only about 0.37 t CO2 equiv. ha−1 year−1 to climate change mitigation. There is no fossil fuel substitution. Therefore, taking forests out of management reduces climate change mitigation benefits substantially. There should be a mitigation cost for taking forest out of management in Central Europe. Since the energy sector is rewarded for the climate benefits of bioenergy, and not the forest sector, we propose that a CO2 tax is used to award the contribution of forest management to fossil fuel substitution and climate change mitigation. This would stimulate the production of wood for products and energy substitution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The climate change mitigation effect of bioenergy from sustainably managed forests in Central Europe

et al. 2020

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“…Le foreste e il sistema foresta-legno in Italia luppo verticale. Il legno così impiegato continua a trattenere a lungo il carbonio che ha immagazzinato durante il suo ciclo vitale; se prelevato in maniera responsabile, ha quindi un'impronta di CO 2 molto più bassa del materiale che sostituisce (Chen et al 2018). Ciò è facilmente dimostrato dal fatto stesso che i prodotti in legno con ciclo di vita medio-lungo dovranno essere contabilizzati in base all'Accordo di Parigi nelle misure nazionali per la mitigazione e adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici.…”

Section: Materialeunclassified

Forests and forest-wood system in Italy: towards a new strategy to address local and global challenges

Marchetti¹,

Motta²,

Pettenella³

et al. 2018

Forest@

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Forest cover in Italy has increased threefold in slightly more than a century. In 2018 the area covered by forest will be, for the first time since long, larger than that covered by active cultivation. In the same time, the stewardship of forest ecosystem services such as biodiversity provision, hydrogeological protection, and landscape conservation has increased. More than 27% of Italian forests are included in protected areas; 86% of forests is subject to limitation of use connected to soil protection and water cycle regulation, and 100% is under the landscape conservation law. Italy is also home of one of the largest economies of wood transformation, but 80% of the raw material is imported, which implies several environmental, socioeconomic , and ethical issues, both domestically and abroad. The conditions are ripe to plan for a responsible management of the natural capital in the country's forests. A forest management that is active, shared, and conscious of domestic and global implications will be the best chance to maintain and improve the ecosystem services provided by forests in Italy.

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“…The sink reduction due to increased wood use for bioenergy or short-living wood products like pulp and paper is not easily compensated (Ter-Mikaelian et al, 2015;Seppälä et al, 2019). Especially in boreal forests where trees grow slowly and soil carbon stock plays a major role, the time span of climate benefits from increased traditional wood use has been found to be too long (Mitchell et al, 2012;Lemprière et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2018;Dugan et al, 2018) to cope with the very limited carbon budget determined by the objectives of Paris Agreement (IPCC, 2018). Studies analyzing climatic impact of wood use show that the result depends heavily on the assumed portfolio of wood products and therefore the obtained substitution benefits (Seppälä et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigation Impact of Different Harvest Scenarios of Finnish Forests That Account for Albedo, Aerosols, and Trade-Offs of Carbon Sequestration and Avoided Emissions

Kalliokoski

Bäck²,

Boy

et al. 2020

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Assessing the greenhouse gas effects of harvested wood products manufactured from managed forests in Canada

Cited by 45 publications

References 36 publications

The climate change mitigation effect of bioenergy from sustainably managed forests in Central Europe

The climate change mitigation effect of bioenergy from sustainably managed forests in Central Europe

Forests and forest-wood system in Italy: towards a new strategy to address local and global challenges

Mitigation Impact of Different Harvest Scenarios of Finnish Forests That Account for Albedo, Aerosols, and Trade-Offs of Carbon Sequestration and Avoided Emissions

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