An integrated landscape-atmosphere-industry greenhouse gas budget of forest biomass production: Does sustainable forestry result in negative emissions?

Forest biomass production constitutes a key component in developing Sweden’s bio-based economy.

Furthermore, forest management can counteract emissions from fossil fuel burning by i) enhancing the carbon (C) sink in biomass and soil, ii) increasing C storage in wood products and iii) using biomass as a fuel and material substitute.

The governmental assignment ‘Swedish Roadmap’ aims at achieving ‘zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2045’.

Currently, however, the GHG budget of a managed forest landscape is uncertain given its heterogeneity in stand characteristics and management history, the additional fluxes of the powerful GHGs methane and nitrous oxide as well as emissions related to the biomass product supply chain.

To fill this gap, we will utilize the worldwide unique and state-of-the-art ICOS and SITES infrastructures co-located within a 68km2 forest catchment.

The main goals are to i) estimate the full GHG (CO2, CH4 & N2O) balance of a forest landscape based on tall tower eddy covariance flux measurements and 16 monitored streams, ii) identify local GHG sinks and sources across >500 forest inventory plots, and iii) conduct a life cycle assessment of forest product emissions which altogether will provide an unprecedented integrated estimate of the full GHG budget for a managed forest landscape in boreal Sweden.

The project will deliver valuable science-based decision support to policy makers and facilitate the development towards an emission-neutral society.