Sustainable biomass sourcing and cascading of wood products in the EU-28 Richard Sikkema Institute for Environment & Sustainability (IES) H03 Forest Resources and Climate Unit
Overview of the presentation Contribution forest sector to EU s bio-economy 4 building blocks (BB) S i g n a l? Forestry practice Policy making
Overview of the presentation Four building blocks (BB): 1. Growing demand of woody biomass for bioenergy and materials 2. Innovative mobilization of wood resources within the EU 3. Sustainable trade of woody biomass 4. Resource efficiency, re-use, recycling and energetic use of wood products Cascading Sustainable sourcing 5. Contribution of forest sector to EU s bio-economy (recommendations) 6. References and work in progress
BB1: Growing EU wood demand More demand of woody biomass for bio-energy and materials: Electricity & heating in the EU Transportation fuels Traditional forest sector in Europe Other new sectors of the bio-economy Coverage of the 2020 energy demand in the EU: Extra mobilization within EU Extra imports 2020 from elsewhere Further growth beyond 2020 for energy in the EU EU-28 proposal for RES: 20% 27%, Range of World Energy Outlook (IEA) for 2035
BB1: Growing energy demand pellet trade ***) Proskurina et al, 2014. Russian wood pellet business. EBCE, Hamburg (D).
Building blocks 2 & 3: Sustainable sourcing Region Managed forests Change forest area 2000-2010 Certified PEFC forests*) Share of managed forests Certified FSC forests**) Temperate and boreal forests (mostly sourced for EU energy needs) in million ha North America, share of managed forests 554 +0.03% 149 27% 69 12% Europe, 844 +0.07% 77 9% 80 9% Incl. Russia Tropical forests (nearly used for EU energy needs) in million ha Asia & the 231 +0.19% 15 6% 11 5% Pacific Latin 83-0.46% 3 4% 14 17% America Africa 186-0.49% 0 0% 6.7 4% *) PEFC inventory per March 2013 **) FSC inventory per April 2014
BB 2: Mobilization of wood in EU Forest owner s perceptions in the mobilization of wood Matter of price Matter of knowledge, common habits, etc. Differences on the EU level: most efforts are related to even aged forests Special attention is needed for uneven aged forests Afforestation on available left over agricultural areas: Innovative harvesting equipment or knowledge exchange with other regions Slash recovery Recovery of small trees or delayed thinning Recovery of remaining roots.
2. SIMWOOD mobiliser (JRC coordinator)
B 3: sustainable biomass trade key factors Worldwide: low share of forests certified. Large forests can be more cost efficiently certified than small ones: Remaining non certified fibers via less stringent risk inventories FSC and PEFC have set up risk inventories in wood supply chain to comply with EUTR (prevention illegal harvest etc.)
B 3: sustainable biomass trade practices United Kingdom: trade & use of sustainable fibers by UK energy plants. Fibers from SFM forest areas (min.70%) risk based fibers (max.30%) Netherlands: trade & use of sustainable fibers by Dutch energy plants. fibers from small/medium forests <500 ha from large forests >500 ha Belgium: competition woody feedstock for energy with wood from forest industries Coverage forest carbon pools (maintenance)
BB 4. Efficiency and cascading Efficient use of forest resources in the EU High quality wood for building products etc. High quality residues for high quality paper products Re-use or recycling before energy in the EU, where possible & feasible Recycling waste wood: 15 mln m 3 Recycling waste paper: 57 mln tonne GHG reduction Cascading principle in the EU (state-of-the-art) Fresh fibers: no guiding principles. Post consumer waste fibers: guiding hierarchy via Waste Directive
BB 4. Efficiency and cascading Sawlogs and poles Pulpwood Rough sawn wood Processed timber Wood based panels Energy from waste fibers Firewood graded trees Mechanical / chemical pulp High graded papers Lower graded papers Pulpwood
S i g n a l? 5. Recommendations (1) Sustainable sourcing of woody biomass (=EU s domestic mobilization & external trade) Required wood mobilization via more collaboration in the EU Worldwide SFM certification can be integrated into EU s energy & climate policies Relative expensive sourcing costs for small forest areas (mostly privately owned) could be addressed Monitoring competition between forest & energy sector
S i g n a l? 5. Recommendations (2) Cascading of harvested wood and wood products Fresh fiber cascading should be further facilitated Waste wood fiber cascading should be further improved Waste paper fiber cascading could be further improved
6. Basic scientific references: The GHG contribution of the cascaded Use of wood products versus wood for energy (case study available forest resources in Canada) In: Environ. Science & Policy 31 (2013): p. 96-108; Mobilization of biomass for energy from Boreal forests in Finland and Russia (related to Sustainable Biomass Partnership of the energy sector) In: Biomass & Bioenergy 71 (2014): p. 23-36; Legal harvesting, sustainable sourcing & cascaded wood use for bioenergy (coverage of sustainability via existing forest management certificates) In: Forests 5 (2014):p. 2163-2211 (open access)
6. Work in progress Sustainable sourcing and cascading of forest products worldwide JRC Science & Policy report
IEA New Policies scenario Energy use (in EJ) 100.0 80.0 Households etc (fuelwood) Industry (CHP, heating) Power (solid biomass) Transport (biofuels) Other Largest growth in 2035 by: electricity & heating Both are related to wood: Where EU-28: + 310 mln m 3 60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0 2011 2020 2025 2030 2035