Biogenic Carbon Flows with a Focus on the Wood Industry

This study provides an overview of carbon flows in the wood-based value chains in Sweden in 2022. The focus is on the content of renewable carbon atoms in the solid wood products used in Sweden. Data comes from public statistics, industry organizations, and individual companies.

Of the primary raw material used in sawmills, 28% ends up in sawn spruce (2280 kt carbon) and 18% in sawn pine (1460 kt carbon). The sawn timber goes on to the building trade or further processing within the wood manufacturing industry into various building products, as well as to the furniture industry. The remaining portion of the wood raw material in sawmills becomes by-products that go to energy production or to the paper and pulp industry. From the Swedish wood manufacturing industry, there is a flow consisting of by-products and residual streams, where the majority becomes return wood chips (RT chips) that are either burned in their own boilers for heat production at the industry or sent to heating or cogeneration plants. The amount of RT chips that enters the Swedish power and heating plants annually amounts to 1300 kt carbon. The difference between what goes into the wood manufacturing industry and what is energy recovered in the form of mainly RT chips is bound in long-lived products such as wooden frames, building interiors, furnishings, and furniture, which are also partially exported. The market for reuse and recycling of wood and wood constructions within the construction sector is still limited in Sweden, pilot studies are ongoing, and only small amounts of timber flow in this process. Since building products often have functional and quality requirements that need to meet current building standards upon reuse, reuse is complicated, and the issue of responsibility also complicates matters. Regulations, test methods, new actors, and business models need to be developed.

Among the actors in the value chain, there is an understanding and willingness to make a transition, but there is primarily a lack of economic incentives to do so, as well as coordination within and between different parts of the value chain and also between different sectors for biogenic materials.

Another perspective, considering the increasing competition for wood raw material from the forest, is to reflect on the volumes of exported timber, its use, resource efficiency, and potential national needs.

Today, there is a large amount of detailed public statistics and data missing regarding the amount of sawn timber that goes into different types of products. The risk of revealing company-specific information means that collected data, for example by SCB, cannot be published officially. Not all companies report data either. Statistics exist for flows upstream for sawmill production and downstream sales. Individual companies in the value chain have good knowledge of their internal flows. Statistics for product categories within wood manufacturing are specified at the product level and not in detail for the input material. The low resolution makes it difficult to compile reliable statistics for flows of wood-based material. For energy and heat production, statistics are available via Energiföretagen and industry organizations. However, there is currently poor knowledge about the material flows that go to RT chips, which are then burned.