Victoria A.M. Poljatschenko, Lauri T. Valsta. (2021). Carbon emissions displacement effect of Finnish mechanical wood products by dominant tree species in a set of wood use scenarios. Silva Fennica vol. 55 no. 1 article id 10391. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.10391

Keywords: avoided emissions; mechanical forest industry; substitution effect; wooden construction

Highlights: Wood product consumption patterns are combined with production-based displacement factors to estimate displacement factors for logs by tree species; The main tree species in Finland have somewhat unequal displacement factors; Historical and projected wood use scenarios show large variation in the levels of avoided emissions between individual years and scenarios.

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The carbon emissions displacement effect of Finnish logs for mechanical wood products by dominant tree species (Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris L.; Norway spruce, Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.; Birch, Betula spp.) was assessed by combining information from previous studies of current consumption patterns with displacement factors (DF) for structural construction, non-structural construction, and energy usage. We did not conduct additional life cycle analyses compared to the current literature. Our aim was to identify the factors that most extensively influence the displacement effect and to estimate the overall climate effect of Finnish logs in light of current production levels of mechanical forest industry. The analyses were based on information from both statistics and proprietary sources. Contrary to previous studies, we provide DFs by main tree species in Finland, which has been an unidentified area of research to date. Additionally, we apply a more detailed classification of structural and non-structural wood products. This study did not include effects on the forest carbon sink, as they depend case-wise on forest resources and forest management. According to our results, with current production and consumption trends, the average displacement effects for domestic Scots pine, Norway spruce, and birch logs were 1.28, 1.16, and 1.43 Mg C/Mg C, respectively. The corresponding overall annual displacement effect caused by the current production of sawn wood and wood-based panels was 12.3 Tg CO₂ for Finland for the BAU scenario and varied between 8.6 and 16.3 Tg CO₂ depending on the wood use scenario.

Poljatschenko, Simosol Oy, Hämeenkatu 10, FI-11100 Riihimäki, Finland E-mail: victoria.poljatschenko@simosol.fi
Valsta, Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: lauri.valsta@helsinki.fi

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