Forest sector climate change mitigation

Forests are a vital part of the carbon cycle, both storing and releasing carbon through a dynamic process of growth, decay, disturbance and renewal. Forests can take carbon out of the atmosphere and store it within the trees and soil.

Wood harvested from forests creates products and energy to meet society’s demands and can help avoid using other sources of energy and products with high carbon footprints.

Systems approach

A systems approach improves our understanding of the forest sector’s contribution to climate change mitigation. This approach is one of the principles of reducing emissions. It allows us to ensure all interacting carbon flows within the forest sector are taken into account.

A systems approach considers the flow of carbon in the forest ecosystem and wood products, emissions from bioenergy and biofuels, and substitution benefits if energy or products with high carbon footprints are avoided. Mitigation actions are compared to a business-as-usual baseline to estimate the difference in emissions.

Reducing emissions

Emissions can be reduced by:

• further improving harvest practices
• storing carbon longer in wood products
• reducing emissions from wildfires and other natural disturbances
• limiting deforestation

Climate change intensifies wildfires, droughts, and flooding. These natural disasters further drive climate change by disrupting forest growth and releasing carbon.

Researchers are studying how we can manage forests to reduce the risk of wildfires, enhance forest growth and create economic opportunities for the forest sector.

Comparing mitigation options

Canada’s ecosystems and management activities differ across the country. Studies on forests and forestry that examine climate change mitigation opportunities have found cost-effective options to help achieve Canada’s long-term targets for reducing carbon emissions.

One national study found that strategies to reduce emissions included further improving harvest practices, prioritizing the harvest of dead trees instead of live trees for wood products and creating products that store carbon for longer.

In another study, cost estimates for forest sector carbon reduction options were compared to those in other sectors, and selecting the best option or set of options for a particular region had the biggest benefit. Carbon benefits can grow with time and can help meet longer-term carbon reduction targets and lower the costs. In addition to the carbon reduction and associated costs, recent studies consider impacts on jobs, forest age and future timber supply.

Substituting with lower carbon footprints

Reducing the carbon footprint of energy and products will help mitigate climate change. Wood products can substitute alternate productsnd bioenergy can substitute fossil fuel burning.

Tri-national studies with modelling in Canada, the United States and Mexico found that creating products that store carbon for long periods of time delays the release of carbon into the atmosphere. These wood products can substitute other products with high carbon footprints.

Wood products with longer useable lifespans, such as wood used in buildings, store carbon for longer than most paper products or wood used for energy. Recycling and repurposing wood products at the end of their lifespan can also help store carbon for longer time periods.

A national study examined substitution benefits of wood by comparing life cycle emissions to other materials in a range of products including buildings, furniture, home renovations and manufacturing. A global summary found that wood products are associated with lower emissions when compared to non-wood products, particularly for wood products used in construction. Considering all of the wood products at a regional or national level reduces substitution benefits based on a market-level summary.

Another national study examined using harvest waste for local bioenergy instead of burning high emission fossil fuels, such as coal and fuel oil. Some of the harvest waste that would have been left in the forest to rot or burned to reduce the risk of wildfire was instead collected and burned in an efficient bioenergy facility.

Tools and models

Forest ecosystem carbon balances are estimated using carbon budget models (Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector [CBM-CFS3] or Generic Carbon Budget Model [GCBM]). Both models use the same underlying science modules and accept information on forest characteristics and growth, natural disturbances and harvest or other management information. The GCBM is better suited to data that includes geographical or location information.

Carbon in wood products can be tracked using a software package that can run a variety of harvested wood product models to simulate the flow of carbon through different product types and lifetimes (e.g., bioenergy, pulp and paper, and lumber).

A GHG calculator for renewable forest bioenergy was developed to evaluate the GHG mitigation potential over time. This includes carbon uptake from forest regrowth. Including regrowth is essential for evaluating potential benefits of using forest bioenergy as a substitute for fossil fuel electricity and heat.

Find out more

• Forest Carbon Management Research Project

Canadian Forest Service publications

• Climate change mitigation through forest sector activities: principles, potential and priorities
• Quantifying the biophysical climate change mitigation potential of Canada's forest sector
• Cost of climate change mitigation in Canada’s forest sector
• Climate change mitigation in British Columbia’s forest sector: GHG reductions, costs and environmental impacts
• A synthesis of climate change mitigation options based on regional case studies of the North American forest sector using a harmonized modeling approach
• Climate change mitigation in Canada’s forest sector: a spatially-explicit case study for two regions
• A systems approach to assess climate change mitigation options in landscapes of the United States forest sector
• Applying a systems approach to assess carbon emission reductions from climate change mitigation in Mexico’s forest sector
• Substitution effects of wood-based products in climate change mitigation
• Substitution impacts of wood use at the market level: A systematic review
• Climate change mitigation potential of local use of harvest residues for bioenergy in Canada
• Estimating product and energy substitution benefits in national-scale mitigation analyses for Canada