Sveaskog

Forests and forestry is at the centre of today’s discussion on how to counter against climate change. The sun, through photosynthesis, continuously drives production of wood, which may replace non-renewable, fossil-based products. In the process, carbon dioxide is assimilated and stays fixed for a longer or shorter period of time, depending on the final use of the wood as a raw material. Inevitably, climate change necessitates a greater focus on sustainable forest management as an important part of the solution.

Forest based bio-fuels on the rise

The European Union’s (EU) binding target of 20% renewable energy by the year 2020 is expected to create a need for 880 million cubic metres of “new” biomass at the community level. Wood biomass, used as bio-energy, is considered carbon neutral and some 250 million cubic metres or 500 TWh will come from the forest. The exploitation of this potential will require more efficient mobilisation of forest biomass, according to the EU Forest Action Plan.

Sweden shows how this can be done. Today about 44% of Swedish energy is renewable. Since 1970, the supply of biofuels has increased by over 60%. The Swedish industry has turned from oil to biomass and also enabled local communities to rapidly develop district heating.

This development has not affected the forest industry negatively. On the contrary, the industry has so far shown good results and increased their production yearly. Sweden has less than one 1% of the world´s total forest area and yet the Swedish forest industry is a leading exporter, with 6% of world production of sawn and planed timber and 7% of world paper pulp production.

The state-owned forest company Sveaskog is one of the largest forest owners in Europe. As such, it has both a responsibility and an opportunity to help meet the new challenge. Sveaskog manages 3.3 million hectares of productive forest land in Sweden and is a leading supplier of saw-logs, pulpwood and bio-fuels in the Nordic region. The company vision is to lead the way in the development of forest values, including different ecosystem services from the forest. A corporate climate strategy aims to fully capture this concept and includes targets for sustainable production as well as for reducing direct emissions.

Potential for value-added forest growth…

According to the Swedish Forestry Act the Swedish forests are managed in a sustainable way. The Swedish forest is growing significantly faster than it is being felled. This means that the volume of timber in the forests is increasing all the time. And the forestry is based on the principle that care for the environment and care for the production of wood are equally important.

Even though growth is substantial, there is considerable potential for increasing the availability of forest raw material in Sweden. Higher growth, in the short and long term, is a realistic ambition. Sveaskog estimates that developed application of various methods in use today, such as improved tree breeding and regeneration, increased use of seeds and fertilisation on suitable sites can enhance growth by 20%. This goal can be met in twenty years by using known methods and simply by engaging more in the management practices in existing forest and the forest planted.

…and forest carbon sinks

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Swiss researchers were commissioned by Sveaskog to perform a study of how much the Swedish forestry helps to reduce the volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. From a life cycle perspective the analysis calculates both the net effect of the forest’s binding of carbon dioxide as well as the effects of wood raw material replacing energy-intensive and fossil products. The study shows that the climate benefit of Swedish forestry is 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year within Sweden and a total of 46 million tonnes per year outside the country. The larger amount outside Sweden is due to the fact that we export a substantial volume of our products and the emissions linked to production affect Sweden. The total climate effect is 60 million tonnes per year, which is as much as Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions. The study also shows that with a more growth-focused forestry and increased extraction of biofuels, we can increase the climate benefit to over 100 million tonnes per year. The northern boreal forest is especially for carbon sequestration since a lot of carbon can be stored in both the growing trees and the ground. Thus, managing forests sustainably and enabling growth has profound impact on our possibilities to directly counteract carbon emissions though promoting carbon sinks.

Managing our own backyard

Sustainable forest management is one of the key components in reaching the necessary climate targets. But all actors should also do what they can to reduce sources of their own, direct emissions. The increased use of biofuels in Swedish industry is a success-story. In one aspect, however, we have not yet been successful. That is the transport sector.

Domestically, energy use by the transport sector has actually increased by 80% since 1970. And the transport sector’s share of Sweden’s total CO2 emissions amounts to about 45% and continues to rise. In the Sveaskog case, more than 60% of our emissions actually comes from transporting timber. We have been able to reduce emissions from forestry and transportation by 15% during the last five years but the transport sector is still the weak link. Key to real change is the continued development of renewable biofuel for transportation. Forest industry will have to play an important role in a large-scale production of second generation biofuels, where new technologies are integrated with the traditional production. Therefore this is a priority area of investment in Sveaskog´s research and development.

W: www.sveaskog.se