Byproducts in the forest products industries - impact on climate and value added

Wood can significantly reduce greenhouse gases in atmosphere through: - storing carbon in forest and products. - product substitution (substituting fossil fuel-intensive products). - using wood byproducts as fuel instead of fossil fuels. Wood differ from most other raw materials by both acting as a raw material and an energy supply for processing products and by storing carbon captured from the atmosphere through the photosynthesis of the trees. The forest products industry is characterised by a high pro portion of byproducts. For many of the byproducts several optional applications exist. Some of the byproducts are internally used as intermediary products, e.g. for energy supply, some are traded without processing (transported to customer) and some are f urther processed to other products. Although several databases on environmental impact of different forest products exist, data for Norwegian conditions are limited, especially for wood byproducts. Without a scientifically sound and transparent database of the environmental and economic impacts associated with using renewable materials, it is difficult for policymakers to arrive at informed decisions affecting the forestry and forest products industries. Moreover, individual industries, including those t hat use wood as a raw material have little information available to them that could provide a basis for strategic planning and investments to improve their environmental stewardship and long term profitability. This project focus on the climatic (greenhou se gas balance) and value added associated with alternative uses of byproducts from the Norwegian forest products chains. Based on the quantitative results from the project, simultaneous optimisation of GHG balance and value added for byproduct utilisatio n will be modelled.