Life cycle assessment of forestry and forests products

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A. BACKGROUND

The Environmental Importance of Forestry and Forest Products (Forest products include solid-wood products, pulp and paper products, and energy): Forests cover more than 25% of the total land area both world-wide and in Europe and the world forests have a standing stock of approximately 600 billion m3. Annually 3,6 billion m3 of wood (around 2 billion metric tonnes) is used by people as firewood (55%) and as forest products (45%) for various purposes such as building, furniture production, pulp and paper, etc. Wood is virtually CO2 neutral, renewable, recyclable and can be burned to release stored (solar) energy. Perhaps most importantly, wood will be permanently available if it is harvested from sustainably managed forests. World-wide, wood is therefore the most important renewable raw material and fuel and in Europe it is the single most important carbon sink.

Europe currently produces and consumes the roundwood equivalent of approximately 400 million m3 of wood products. The amount of wood felled and extracted from European forests will increase by approximately 14% from 1990 to 2010. In the same period demand for all wood products (solid wood, wood based panel products and pulp and paper) has been predicted to grow by 82%.

LCA of Forestry and Forest Products: "Life cycle assessment" (hereinafter referred to as LCA) is a relatively new and developing science which is already seen as an important tool to evaluate the environmental impact of forestry and forest products. The major reasons for performing LCAs are:

-to obtain quantified and reliable information for the emotive debate on the environmental impact and benefits of wood products so that this information can be used by industry and policy makers,

-to improve production and recycling techniques by minimizing steps with high environmental impact or choosing different processing routes to reduce environmental impact or highlighting compatibility between processing,

-to highlight areas where information on the environmental impact of products is still unknown or uncertain,

-to enable comparison between different materials (provided that products are used for the same purposes (e.g. railway sleepers from wood, concrete, steel)).

However, LCA of forestry and forest products has certain special problems, for example:

1.forestry uses considerable areas of land,

2.forest products have relatively long production and use chains which start with wood production in the forest and end with disposal or burning for energy. The steps in between can be processing, trading, secondary processing, using (including maintenance), and recycling,

3.the life cycle of forest products can range from relatively short (e.g. newsprint) to very long (e.g. structural timber),

4.forestry and forest products have relatively complex relationships between products, by-products and waste.

Current LCA Activities: In recent years many organizations have begun with research on LCA for products. However, the results obtained are often not comparable due to the wide range of products in the forestry wood chain, the different methods applied and particularly due to the differences in the LCA framework, functional units, goal and scope definition, and intended audience. Efforts to standardize the LCA method at international level have led to the first guidelines prepared by SETAC (1993) (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
). Since 1993 ISO-TC 207-SC 5 (International Standard Organization - Technical Committee 207 - Subcommittee 5) has been working on new standards for LCA methodology. Presently 45 countries (mostly European) are cooperating on this issue and the number of participating nations is increasing.

The current efforts of ISO-TC 207 SC 5, however, are directed to the development of LCA methodology with a more and less general character and do not consider important aspects of the forestry and wood chain. In forestry and forest products issues like land use, allocation problems, energy, carbon and other materials cycles are of significance and shall be considered within the framework of LCA improvement for these sectors.

The Proposed Cross-Sector COST Action: In order to overcome some of the problems highlighted above and because the research effort is somewhat fragmented between the sectors in the chain, a Cross-Sector COST Action is required in order to coordinate the activities across the whole forestry and forest products chain in different countries and by cooperation between the institutes and industries concerned. This COST Action will create a multi-disciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas and harmonization of methodology. Such a forum will consist of:

-the COST Action management committee,

-multi-disciplinary working groups drawn from the forestry, wood, paper and energy sectors + specialists from outside these areas.

The COST Action will also link together and compliment other European activities, such as:

-FAIR activities (e.g. the existing FAIR Life-Sys Wood project (It should be noted that, while this project will feed valuable information into the proposed COST Action, the FAIR project covers 7 countries and 5 wood products. Only limited information on forestry will become available in the project and there are no paper products in the project)),
-sustainable building materials activities,
-Nordic action on LCA for wood production,
-national activities which are the background for all COST Actions,
-the Action will also compliment and build on existing non-cross-sector COST activities (e.g. the LCA Working Group in Cost Action E1).

B. OBJECTIVES AND BENEFITS

The main objective of the Action is to expand multi-disciplinary life cycle assessments to cover the whole forestry and forest products chain.

Because:

-methodology development and comparison is necessary due to the need for an integrated and balanced approach within the forestry and forest products sector,

-there is a need for interpretation of results and their transformation into practice,

-LCA will examine the implications of using wood in comparison (It is important to note that the Action will not enter (possibly commercial) arguments on "environmental" comparisons of products but will background and supporting information) with other products,

-LCA will contribute to the improvement of processes and products.

Combined benefits of the action

The combined benefits of the Action will be to:

-bring together a multi-disciplinary, and multi-cultural discipline under one umbrella,

-coordinate the approach to LCA within forestry and forest products sector,

-improve methods of data collection and exchange,

-give a basis of comparison of wood products with non-wood products,

-establish a European forum on LCA in forestry and forest products.

Initial objectives

The initial objectives are to:

-propose methods and guidelines for the integration of carbon, energy and other materials cycles into LCA for forestry and wood products,

-propose methods for comparing different kinds of land use,

-develop a method to compare forest management systems,

-propose calculation and allocation rules for multi-product systems and for recycling, energy generation and disposal,

-evaluate energy generation from wood and fibres,

-solve identified problems in LCA methodology for forestry and forest products,

-compare completed LCA studies.

C. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME

Cross-sector and multi-disciplinary exchange of knowledge originating from ongoing research activities in Europe are important aims of all COST Actions. In this special COST Action specific cross-sector LCA topics in the wood chain (forestry, pulp and paper, wood working industry) will be addressed. To cover the topics listed below, working groups will be established. In addition, specific methodology problems identified by the working groups will be dealt with by a methodology task group. Because of the fast developing nature of this science, there is also a need to bring experts in particular areas together for intensive development sessions. These activities will be coordinated by the management committee of the COST Action.

The following workgroup areas are suggested:

1)Production: Energy, carbon, and other material cycle

The life cycle of the renewable raw material wood includes a system of short, medium and long term material (carbon and other minerals, water) and energy cycles. The carbon cycle starts with the biosynthesis in the forests.

It includes the storage of carbon in standing trees and processed products and finally closes itself by releasing CO2 into the atmosphere during biodegradation or combustion. Re-use and recycling leads to a prolongation of the life cycle.

The advantages of wood as a renewable raw material for paper and
non-paper products as well as for energy generation can only be fully addressed when at least the most important material and energy cycles are considered in LCA.

Workgroup objectives:

-propose methods and guidelines for the integration of carbon, energy and other materials cycles into LCA for forestry and wood products,

-propose calculation and allocation rules for multi-product systems and for recycling, energy generation and disposal.

2)Land use

Forest production is a quite extensive use of land. Production of timber in forests requires a large area of land compared to most other kinds of agricultural production. The intensity of land use for industrial production (which includes land fill) or for infrastructure is generally much higher than for forest or agricultural production. To incorporate land use adequately into LCA, the impacts of different kinds of land use on the biotic and the abiotic environment should be considered. This should allow us to compare:

-renewable raw material and fuel production to the exploitation of non-renewable ones and to land use for industrial production and infrastructure,

-timber production in forests to agricultural raw material production,

-different forest management systems.

One possible way of doing this would be to develop a classification scheme for assessing "intensity of land use" by considering impacts of land use systems on the abiotic environment (atmosphere, soil, water, etc.), the biotic environment (biodiversity), and the closeness to natural conditions. The classification scheme developed must also be integrated as far as possible into impact assessment. In addition, the European process of developing criteria and indicators for sustainability of forestry may provide a useful background for land use LCAs.

Workgroup objectives:

-propose methods for comparing different kinds of land use,

-develop a method to compare forest management systems.

3)End of life: Recycling, disposal and energy production

Wood must be considered not only as a raw material but also as fuel. In addition, the environmental impacts caused by recycling or disposing of paper and non-paper wood products will be compared with energy production. In addition, the group will look at market anomalies caused by European legislation (particularly with respect to packaging materials and waste paper) which have led to market situations where, for example, virgin fibre material may have to compete with very low priced used fibre material. Large quantities of used fibre are transported within Europe and are even both imported and exported to or from the Americas and South-East Asia. This situation not only influences the European pulp and paper sector but also the forestry and energy sector.

Workgroup objectives:

-propose calculation and allocation rules for multi-product systems and for recycling, energy generation and disposal,

-evaluate energy generation from wood and fibres,

-propose methods and guidelines for the integration of carbon, energy and other materials cycles into LCA for forestry and wood products.

4)Task Group Methodology

The Methodology task group will cooperate closely with the working groups mentioned above. It will try to develop specific areas of methodology which are identified by the work groups. These problem areas may be, for example, data collection, aggregation, and evaluation as well as allocation, system boundaries, scope, and functional unit. Of these areas "allocation" may be one of the prime targets (see example below):

Allocation example:

In the processing industry residues are mainly economically usable (e.g. residues in the sawmilling are used as raw material for other wood based products as well as fuel for energy generation). Therefore, the environmental burdens shall not be allocated only to the main product, but also to the residues which are in reality by-products.

5)Multi-disciplinary Workshops and Seminars

It is the intention of the Action to bring the workgroups together for multi-disciplinary and cross-sector workshops to present results and progress towards objectives. An additional objective of these workshops will be to:

-compare completed LCA studies.

Because this is a relatively new and fast moving area, these work groups will initially be organized for the first 18 months of the action. At this point the action can be reorganized and restructured, if necessary.

D. ORGANIZATION AND TIMETABLE

This Action is a pioneering attempt to coordinate research across long-established sectoral boundaries. In addition, the subject is very complex with many interested parties. The Action must be supported with sufficient coordination resources to cope with these challenges.

E. ECONOMIC DIMENSION

The following COST countries have actively participated in the preparation of the Action or otherwise indicated their interest: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

On the basis of national estimates provided by the representatives of these countries and taking into account the coordination costs to be covered by the COST budget of the European Commission, the overall cost of the activities to be carried out under the Action has been estimated, at 1996 prices, at roughly ECU 15 million.

This estimate is valid under the assumption that all the countries mentiond above but no other countries will participate in the Action. Any departure from this will change the total cost accordingly.

Program(-y)

IC-COST - European cooperation in the field of scientific and technical research (COST), 1971-

Temat(-y)

14 - Forestry

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System finansowania

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Koordynator

N/A

Wkład UE

Brak danych

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Niemcy

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