Review of carbon storage function of harvested wood products and the potential of wood substitution in greenhouse gas mitigation

Geng, Aixin; Yang, Hongqiang; Chen, Jiaxin; Yu, Hong

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2017.08.007

Cited by 127 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The magnitude of the default values for the displacement factors used in this study was in line with those of previous studies (e.g., Sathre and O'Connor 2010;Knauf et al 2015;Geng et al 2017), but the development of wood-based products, and their uses in substituting for fossil-based materials in the textile, furniture, and construction sectors, may affect the magnitude of the displacement factors currently used (Werner et al 2015;Rüter et al 2016;Suter et al 2017). For example, the use of wood-fibre-based viscose as a substitute for oil-derived fibers in textiles is expected to increase the factors up to 2.2 tC tC -1 (Rüter et al 2016).…”

Section: Climate Impacts Of Biomass Production and Utilizationsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The annual stock change in wood products (Papers II, III) was calculated as the annual difference between inflow of wood products into the technosystem and outflow of wood products (emissions from degradation) (Karjalainen et al 1994). The substitution impacts were quantified by using product-specific displacement factors (Papers II, III), the default values of which were 0.5, 1, and 2 for processing waste/energy biomass, pulp/paper products, and sawn wood (tC tC -1 ), respectively (Schlamadinger and Marland 1996;Sathre and O´Connor 2010;Geng et al 2017). In addition, the timber use efficiency (a proportion of roundwood used for wood products) was also used in the calculation of the Cnet (Paper II).…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate impacts of carbon sequestration of forests and material substitution by energy biomass and harvested wood products under boreal conditions

Baul¹

2018

Diss. For.

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Section: Climate Impacts Of Biomass Production and Utilizationsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate impacts of carbon sequestration of forests and material substitution by energy biomass and harvested wood products under boreal conditions

Baul¹

2018

Diss. For.

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“…Therefore, the demand for renewable materials and fuels substituting fossil derived ones is increasing fast. The role of forests in climate change mitigation is two-fold: forests are sequestering and storing carbon, and harvested wood resources substitute fossil materials and fuels as well as store carbon in the technosystem (Geng et al, 2017). Political goals and actions aiming to increase the growing forest stock and area are rather clear compared with ones considering harvested wood utilization, because they include multiple contradicting sustainability targets and drivers.…”

Section: Background and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wood utilization scenarios and their sustainability impacts in Finland

Kunttu¹

2020

Diss. For.

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Social, economic and environmental impacts vary in different wood utilization patterns, and national level strategies should consider possible trade-offs and regional needs. This thesis explored a variety of wood utilization scenarios in Finland and assessed their possible future benefits and trade-offs in environmental, economic and social sustainability, forming plausible pathways to actualize preferred outcomes reflecting different priorities in the goal setting. The research was conducted by using model-based sustainability assessment tools, material flow based Tool for Sustainability Impact Assessment (ToSIA) and Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), and explorative participatory scenario methods visualizing the targets quantitatively. The participatory methods utilized actor and researcher stakeholders from industry, policy, and multiple R&D fields. The results showed that cascading and shifting secondary wood flows e.g. industrial side streams and end-of-life wood-based products from energy uses to material uses, results in increased climate benefits and economic competitiveness. Energy use of wood had lower employment, value added, and substitution benefits as well as shorter carbon storing time compared with material uses of wood. Thus, modern wood-based construction, chemicals, textiles and composites need to increase their share in the product portfolios. National policy tools can support this development only to a limited extent, because the global markets set the market framework for wood uses. To change the global market environment, internationally renewed policies aiming at restricting fossil uses are needed to make wood-based material applications more competitive. European Union (EU) policies should also apply incentives to support factor integrates supporting renewable resource savings. Public financial support to develop new processing technologies and product design of wood-based modern applications are needed to boost cost-competitiveness. Industries and other private investors can contribute to sustainable development by focusing on improving existing processing technologies and making them more resource and energy efficient. However, international policy efforts are still needed to increase the mix of alternative clean energy forms in Finland.

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“…i,t = V j i,1961 e ½Uðt−1961Þ , [7] where V j t is annual production, imports, or exports of wood product j in year t in country i, and U is the estimated continuous rate of change of industrial roundwood production for a given region between 1900 and 1961 (SI Appendix, Table S7).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Global mitigation potential of carbon stored in harvested wood products

Johnston

Radeloff

2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

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Carbon stored in harvested wood products (HWPs) can affect national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, in which the production and end use of HWPs play a key role. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides guidance on HWP carbon accounting, which is sensitive to future developments of socioeconomic factors including population, income, and trade. We estimated the carbon stored within HWPs from 1961 to 2065 for 180 countries following IPCC carbon-accounting guidelines, consistent with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT) historical data and plausible futures outlined by the shared socioeconomic pathways. We found that the global HWP pool was a net annual sink of 335 Mt of CO2 equivalent (CO2e)⋅y−1 in 2015, offsetting substantial amounts of industrial processes within some countries, and as much as 441 Mt of CO2e⋅y−1 by 2030 under certain socioeconomic developments. Furthermore, there is a considerable sequestration gap (71 Mt of CO2e⋅y−1 of unaccounted carbon storage in 2015 and 120 Mt of CO2e⋅y−1 by 2065) under current IPCC Good Practice Guidance, as traded feedstock is ineligible for national GHG inventories. However, even under favorable socioeconomic conditions, and when accounting for the sequestration gap, carbon stored annually in HWPs is <1% of global emissions. Furthermore, economic shocks can turn the HWP pool into a carbon source either long-term—e.g., the collapse of the USSR—or short-term—e.g., the US economic recession of 2008/09. In conclusion, carbon stored within end-use HWPs varies widely across countries and depends on evolving market forces.

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Review of carbon storage function of harvested wood products and the potential of wood substitution in greenhouse gas mitigation

Cited by 127 publications

References 53 publications

Climate impacts of carbon sequestration of forests and material substitution by energy biomass and harvested wood products under boreal conditions

Climate impacts of carbon sequestration of forests and material substitution by energy biomass and harvested wood products under boreal conditions

Wood utilization scenarios and their sustainability impacts in Finland

Global mitigation potential of carbon stored in harvested wood products

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