Net climate impacts of forest biomass production and utilization in managed boreal forests

Abstract

In this work, we studied the potentials offered by managed boreal forests and forestry to mitigate the climate change using forest-based materials and energy in substituting fossil-based materials (concrete and plastic) and energy (coal and oil). For this purpose, we calculated the net climate impacts (radiative forcing) of forest biomass production and utilization in the managed Finnish boreal forests (60°-70°N) over a 90-year period based on integrated use forest ecosystem model simulations (on carbon sequestration and biomass production of forests) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) tool. When studying the effects of management on the radiative forcing in a system integrating the carbon sink/sources dynamics in both biosystem and technosystem, the current forest management (baseline management) was used a reference management. Our results showed that the use of forest-based materials and energy in substituting fossil-based materials and energy would provide an effective option for mitigating climate change. The negative climate impacts could be further decreased by maintaining forest stocking higher over the rotation compared to the baseline management and by harvesting stumps and coarse roots in addition to logging residues in the final felling. However, the climate impacts varied substantially over time depending on the prevailing forest structure and biomass assortment (timber, energy biomass) used in substitution.

Climate Change Mitigation Potential in Boreal Forests: Impacts of Management, Harvest Intensity and Use of Forest Biomass to Substitute Fossil Resources

“…This was because of their longer lifespan [33,[58][59][60]. Thus, the increase in carbon stock of sawn wood has positive impacts on climate change mitigation in addition to substitution benefits, which has also been found in previous studies [42,61,62]. This occurred in our study, although we did not consider recycling or reuse of wood products in our analysis which could have extended the lifespan of the products and benefitted the climate through carbon storing [63].…”

“…The emission reductions from the use of energy biomass have been found lower and taking a longer time to realize than those from the use of sawn wood [40][41][42]. Displacement factors (i.e., a ton of fossil carbon emission reduction per ton of carbon used in wood product, tC tC −1 ) are often used from available literature to assess the substitution impacts of using wood products and energy biomass [35,43,44].…”

Risk of large-scale fires in boreal forests of Finland under changing climate

“…We are moreover motivated by the fact that in countries like Finland, forest-based bioeconomy has a key role in climate change mitigation and it is thus particularly important to understand the impact of climate change on the risks affecting forests and to take them into account in forest management. That is because efficient mitigation requires increasing carbon sequestration and use of forest biomass to substitute fossil-intensive fuels, materials, and products (Kilpeläinen et al, 2015).…”

Estimation of the high-spatial-resolution variability in extreme wind speeds for forestry applications

“…The forest-based bioeconomy plays an important role in climate change mitigation (Kilpeläinen et al, 2016), and in a forested country like Finland, over 50 % of the current bioeconomy relies on the sustainable management and utilization of forest resources. In Scandinavia, forest grows relatively slowly, and it takes typically 50-100 years from forest cultivation to final harvesting.…”