Environmental indicators for sustainable forestry and forest industry

Transcription

1 Environmental indicators for sustainable forestry and forest industry EffFibre & EffNet Seminar VTT: Helena Wessman, Tuomas Helin, Mari Ovaskainen, Tiina Pajula, Kim Pingoud, Elina Saarivuori, Sampo Soimakallio, Laura Sokka Metla: Samuli Launiainen, Leena Finer, Jari Hynynen SYKE: Anne Holma Finnish Bioeconomy Cluster FIBIC Oy 1

2 Aims and research needs Aim is to increase environmental competitiveness of forest industry products and fibre-based raw material. Scientific grounded evaluation for sustainability indicators that are forestry specific are relevant to bring out the environmental benefits and renewability in fibre- based product s value chain (domestic and general level) Develop tools for environmental communication (case studies) Networking: Combining the Finnish forestry and environmental competence (VTT, Metla, SYKE, industrial partners) Data exchange: MOTTI, Metla s hydrological models, LCA and footprints, biodiversity data 2

3 Environmental Performance in the context of EffFibre WP2 ECONOMICS WOOD QUALITY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE DATA, METHODOLOGY CASE STUDIES CARBON FOOTPRINT WATER FOOTPRINT LAND USE BIODIVERSITY v TASK 1. SCENARIOS FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT OPTIONS TASK 5: DISSEMINATION 3

4 Framework Finnish Bioeconomy Cluster FIBIC Oy

5 Carbon footprints and forest biomass why? Currently bio-co2 flows are excluded from carbon footprint calculations Burning of biomass is thought to equal the growth in the long-run However, biogenic carbon flows are significant in the forest industries product value chains The balance of forest C stocks can be far from neutral, negative or positive, in midterm (decades) Timing in long-rotation forestry a key question A need to consider bio-c flows in forestry products with a scientifically acceptable methodology Finnish Bioeconomy Cluster FIBIC Oy

6 Carbon footprint and forest biomass - approach Aim to clarify and assess the scientific justification of the existing approaches. Climate impacts of forest policies or individual forest products? (1) Forest policy-making (1): How forest carbon balances and climate impacts change in different forest management options? Product carbon footprints (2): How to include impact of single harvesting decisions in product LCA? Test and develop methodology in the case studies with MOTTI data (2) 6

7 Biogenic carbon preliminary conclusions An approach has been developed for inclusion of forest biomass carbon for product LCA Based on literature review on previous approaches and is peer reviewed Impact of individual harvesting decision allocated to forest product Forest and climate dynamics included, easy to compare to fossil CO 2 emissions Climate impacts depend on Forest model estimates on development of forest C stocks; and The time that biomass carbon remains in forest product FIBIC Workshop on approach and preliminary results: at VTT, Espoo! 7

8 Why water footprint- industrial perspective Sustainable water use is important for the industry Sustainability goals Economic interests Stakeholder expectations Benefit for the Nordic industry Industry involvement Water footprint method development Testing of methods (e.g. UPM, Stora Enso) 1 UPM water footprint study 2 Stora Enso water footprint study 8

9 State-of-the-art in ISO Water Footprint Standard development Compatible with ISO 14040, LCA standard Water footprint is an impact, not an inventory Local aspects should be taken into account Water quality is as important as water volume Positive aspects can be reported Water use = any use of water by human activity 9

10 Water footprint in EffFibre Background: Water footprint methodology by the Water Footprint Network showed that paper product have very high water footprints (mainly because of green water) Research question: How to account for the natural water cycle and regional water availability in product water footprints? Solution: The volume-based approaches used are not suitable for forest product s water footprint Water footprint has to reflect an impact (or impact potential) to water availability and water quality Green water use of managed semi-natural Nordic forests has no negative environmental or water balance impacts and should be neglected 10

11 Biodiversity Biodiversity indicators for forest based industry Finnish forestry, global usability Species & habitat diversity Stakeholders and experts included in the process: Based on existing indicators ( Framework for selecting indicators Criteria; data availability, policy relevance The process for selecting the indicators 1. Literature review of existing indicators 2. Stakeholder workshop 3. Expert interviews (5-10 persons) 4. Testing: forest management scenarios (Motti) 5. Evaluation 6. Reporting 11

12 Biodiversity Preliminary indicators: (1. Round wood removals (?)) 2. Soil a) harrowing, b) mounding and c) stump removal in clear cut areas [% share in average] 3. Dead wood - amount of dead wood [10+ cm in diameter] 4. Share of protected/natural forests in the area OR old forest with dead wood +20 m 3 /ha 5. Tree species composition a) The share of domestic tree species of all trees or of cut trees b) Share of deciduous trees (natural share depends on forest type) 7. Preservation of valuable habitats in loggings [%] 8. Retention trees in regeneration areas [m 3, on regional level] What happens next? Final selection and evaluation of the indicators, data availability (Motti?) In the future: LCA indicators that are applicaple to Finnish conditions are needed The development of the biodiversity indicators is challenging task and a lot is still to be done. The work will continue! 12

13 Land use why is it of interest? Productive land is becoming a limited resource with the current increase in population and raw material consumption Biomass production for food, feed, fibre and fuels and ecosystem services Biomass feedstock provision is more land use intensive than traditional nonrenewable feedstocks. Question on the land use related impacts of bioeconomy has arisen as public concern Up-to-date scientific views needed on the land use impacts of forestry in order to provide factual based arguments to the discussion Global ecological footprint over time 13

14 On-going discussion on forestry and land use Source: WWF Living forests

15 Bio-based forest products will be compared to competitors in LCA case study - Indicators and viewpoints Productive land as resource - Ecological footprint - Land-use changes Soils are directly or indirectly influenced by land use activities Many functions and potentials of soils are crucial for ecosystems and humans - Biotic production potential - Erosion resistance - Filtering and buffering 15

16 Case studies ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF DIFFERENT SCENARIOS Case 2 Forest scenarios Case 3 Allocation APPLICATION OF DEVELOPED INDICATORS IN PRODUCT LCA Case 1 Product LCA ALLOCATION OF FOREST IMPACT TO DIFFERENT PRODUCT GROUPS 16

17 Effect of different allocation methods on allocation factors at forest Volume allocation factor Mass allocation factor Heat value allocation factor Economic allocation factor LOG WOOD FORESTRY 2010 FIBER WOOD ENERGY WOOD Share of forest impact (carbon & water emissions, land use, biodiversity impacts) allocated to each wood fraction 17

18 FOREST IMPACT Water emissions by source in SC paper life-cycle 5% Mill energy & fuels 26% Suspended solids 1.4 kg/t paper 2% 33% 2% 60% Mill operations Forestry Non-fiber raw material 2% 4% 2% 9% 63% Phosphorus 0.03 kg/t paper Business as usual -scenario Nitrogen 0.18 kg/t paper 92% 18

19 Nutrient and suspended solid loads from forest management scenarios N = nitrogen P = phosphorus SS = susp. solids Finnish Bioeconomy Cluster FIBIC Oy

20 Thank you for your interest Helena Wessman VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Sustainability, Industrial Systems Tel Finnish Bioeconomy Cluster FIBIC Oy