Forests: future fibre and fuel values : Woody biomass for energy and materials: resources, markets, carbon flows and sustainability impacts

From energy outlooks, it becomes clear that global bioenergy consumption is expected to grow further; specifically the demand for wood for electricity and heating, together with agricultural biomass for liquid biofuels. The EU has an ambitious and integrated policy in order to address climate change and security of energy supply towards 2020.Proposed policies with more stringent goals for the 2030 horizon are: 40% greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction, and further increase of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Further mobilisation of wood within the EU-28 and supplementary supplies from North American and Russian forests could help to fulfil EU’s 2020-2030 policies. Specifically for external supplies, the import of wood pellets from outside the EU is expected to significantly contribute to EU’s future demand. Based on existing knowledge gaps and the reach of EU’s policies, three research questions are addressed: How can the supply of wood pellets and other woody biomass be guaranteed in a sustainable way, following the EU legislation on legal sourcing, sustainable biomass production and efficient re-use of wood wastes (cascading)?Worldwide, a large share of the managed (production) forest area is currently not certified. A risk based approach is used by suppliers to comply with legal sourcing requirements, together with forest certification.This approach may lead to insufficient coverage of sustainability criteria. Obviously, a maximum ceiling for risk based fibers is needed, also to encourage the use of fibers from certified forests. Although technically possible, waste wood is not yet mixed with forest fibers for wood pellet production. Trade seems restricted due to unclear rules in the EU Waste Directive. What are the current and future woody biomass demand & supply market expectations due to-EU’s future policies? Future demand and supply of woody biomass need more attention. Wood shortages are expected from 2020 and beyond, based on current forest management and consumption patterns for virgin wood fibres and recycled wood. Future efforts on wood mobilisation should focus on the introduction of state-of-the-art Scandinavian style forest management methods in other EU Member states and the support for recycling of post-consumer wood waste fibres. What is the GHG emission reduction potential of using woody biomass for power and heat (by replacing fossil fuels) in comparison with using harvested wood products for traditional wood and paper products (e.g. construction wood instead of steel and concrete)? Based on EU’s future growth in woody biomass needs for energy (77 million tonnes per annum) and elaborated harvested wood product (HWP) scenarios, total annual GHG savings in the EU by producing wood pellets to replace coal may amount in 105 million tonnes CO2eq, which is 9.4% of the EU’s absolute reduction goal in 2020. In an optimum savings scenario, harvested wood from high quality trees should be first used for sawn wood, followed by recycling and combustion (cascading), whereas low quality logs can be immediately used for pellets and energy. These extra GHG savings for product cascading before energy use amount to at least 5 million tonnes CO2eq (0.4% of EU’s goal)