Options to improve the carbon balance of the harvested wood products sector in four EU countries

Harvested Wood Products (HWP) may contribute to climate change mitigation
by storing carbon and by replacing energy-intensive materials and fossil
energy, reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. However, when assessing
improved HWP utilizations, interactions between wood use pathways, the
carbon stock dynamics, and the resulting effect on the GHG balance are
still not well understood. This research aims to assess the carbon
sequestration effects of alternative wood product utilizations in four EU
countries. We conducted a material flow analysis of wood uses in France,
Finland, Germany, and Spain for 2017 taking into account national
production, imports, and exports. Then, we quantified the future dynamics
of carbon stock in the HWP through time, assuming the same as in 2017
input and ignoring the forest sink. We then ran six alternative scenarios:
two energy-focused (Energy, Energy+), two material-focused (Cascading,
Material), one with extended half-life of the wood products (HL) and one
as business as usual (BAU). For the simulation period (2020–2050), the
Material scenario leads to the highest mitigation benefits with a
cumulative HWP net carbon accumulation of -502 Mt CO2 for Germany, -290 Mt
CO2 for France, -118 Mt CO2 for Spain, and -116 Mt CO2 for Finland over
the 30 years. The Energy+ scenario with an increase in wood usage for
bioenergy generates a loss of the HWP pool of 351, 80, 77, and 6 Mt CO2
for the same countries, not accounting for energy substitution effects.
Overall, our results suggest that the HWP carbon stock can be increased in
the short-medium term by prioritising the use of wood for material
purposes, while maintaining constant harvest. The HWP mitigation potential
differed greatly according to national wood industry characteristics.
Hence, tailoring the HWP mitigation strategies to the specific
characteristics of the national wood chain would enhance the HWP climate
benefits.