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Stiftelsen Skogsbrukets Forskningsinstitut

Skogforsk

Skogforsk (the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden) is the central research body for the Swedish forestry sector, financed jointly by the government and the members of the institute.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Towards a Circular, Regenerative and Competitive Bioeconomy

23 Jun 2025

Skogforsk (The Forestry Research institute of Sweden) welcomes the initiative for a new bioeconomy strategy, which can provide an opportunity for increasing competitiveness of the EU with maintained high ambitions on sustainability, including climate and biodiversity. When biobased value chains are developed, substantial values are created in terms of economic growth and jobs in the whole society. A significant reduction on fossil materials and energy must be in focus. This entails the need for a biobased raw material supply, where forests and forestry play a central role to provide people and society with, e.g. housing, furniture, energy for heat/cooling, electricity and fuels; chemicals, textiles, packaging, hygiene products and food. Healthy forests with a sustainable, high growth are an absolute prerequisite. The transition to a circular, biobased economy that lives up to the global goals for sustainable development requires viable forests that enable long-term production while considering social values and the environment. Forest tree breeding forms a base that enables a high level of adaptability, resistance, quality, production capacity, and genetic diversity in future forests. Silviculture is a pillar for climate adaptation of forestry and for measures that can counteract undesirable climate effects and pests. Knowledge, technology, and forestry methods that give high and value-adding forest production are key, along with silviculture for variation, social conservation, and biodiversity. The forest creates values seen from several aspects. It is a societal challenge to balance claims on and benefits from forest for the greatest possible overall value and sustainability, both nationally and globally. Forest raw materials, such as wood, are vital for the transition to a biobased economy, with profitability through all value chains. The forest also offers a number of other ecosystem services, both tangible and non-tangible. The effect of silviculture on various ecosystem services sometimes causes conflict, but there are often synergies between different objectives. A bioeconomy strategy aiming at promoting synergies is highly encouraged. Technology, decision support, automation, standards, and data provision are important issues for the digital transformation in forestry, as well as for social and technical issues linked to work content, organisation and innovation. Digital transformation concerns how organisations and business are fundamentally changed through the use and impact of digital technology. The transformation a strong megatrend that is affecting all sectors has been going on for some time but is now developing dramatically. Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise, with potential to revolutionise various technical applications and generate data-driven information for decision support. A bioeconomy strategy should include aspects of digital transformation throughout value chains, in the society and across business sectors. Constant growth of productivity with less environmental impact, contributing to improved performance and higher quality, is necessary for ensuring the sectors competitiveness, as is the move toward fossil-free forestry. This promotes profitability in all stages through the value chains from the forest owners, via contractors and service providers to the industry. It is important that the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy recognises the new ISO 13391 standard that was recently published and that provides a framework for value-chain reporting and calculations of the greenhouse gas dynamics for wood and wood-based products. The bioeconomy strategy must also recognise the strong need for supporting research, innovation and skills development both in sustainable forestry and in advanced wood processing, circular design, and bio-based materials.
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Response to Waste Framework review to reduce waste and the environmental impact of waste management

22 Feb 2022

Reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling of waste are all generally important issues for development towards a sustainable society. However, it is of high importance that its not based on rigid rules. If it can be shown, e.g. by LCA that reuse or recycling of a product/material is not the best way (most sustainable) to manage a life cycle, which may be true e.g. when it comes to renewable biomaterials, a bio-renewable alternative including energy utilization must be a possible alternative. LCA and cost must be a possible way to declare the best alternative, not just rigid rules.
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Response to Climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy

18 Dec 2020

Commission Delegated Regulation on a climate change mitigation and adaptation taxonomy Skogforsk welcomes the attempt to define a common nomenclature to form a base for environmentally sustainable investments. This will help meeting the EU’s environmental objectives on climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation while avoiding significant harm to the other environmental objectives. However, the underlying Delegating Acts contain several issues that are counter-productive and counter-acting the overall objective. Our comments below refer to forests and forestry, management and research. Based on research and current practice in the Nordic forestry model we find solid arguments that active forestry is an important means in climate change mitigation by increasing net growth, and climate change adaptation by forest management and tree breeding for adaptation and increased net growth by healthy forests, including care of biodiversity and other sustainable development goals of the EU. Effective conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services than wood must be considered. In a short movie clip our president of the European Commission Ursula van der Leyen promotes the Green Deal using 1:22 minutes of background and foreground pictures of trees and plants (A European Green Deal | European Commission (europa.eu)). In contrast of this, the presented background documents (Annex I and II) of this consultation, one of the real gamechangers for mitigating and adapting to climate change, investments in active forestry, research and innovation, will not be supported by the taxonomy. According to a coming Skogforsk report on the climate effects of forests and forestry in the Nordic-Baltic region (DK, EE, FI, LV, LT, NO, SE) ~75 million hectares of forest land in the 7 countries is actively managed for forestry. Annual harvesting amounted ~218 million m3 of stem wood for biogenic products (2016). Net growth of the standing forest inventory after harvesting and other losses corresponded to ~74 million tonnes of CO2. Potential bioenergy of some additional 25-35 % of the stem wood biomass for biogenic energy or other bioproducts substituting fossil sources of more than 40 Mtonnes biogenic CO2 In its present version, the Taxonomy only refers to ‘improved forest management’, which seems to have a much narrower implication. Consequently, the entire field of progressive research and innovation to improve forestry practice in accordance with the Green Deal objectives could be hampered due to lack of support. The Taxonomy including its underlying Delegating Act are expected to contribute to harmonization of policy and legislation in several EU policy areas, and thereby affect e.g., calls for research and innovation far beyond the original scope of sustainable investments. For example, research on forest-based bioenergy – in the Nordic case a consequence product from timber – might not meet the criteria in the Taxonomy as it has been doubtfully defined as a transitional activity We miss the knowledge-based arguments for not clearly including existing productive forestry, its large short and long term potentials and the growing circular forest-based economy, and prefer that forest policy and legislation should be handled more effectively by each member state. The Taxonomy is far too detailed to be practical in the forestry case. Requirements on documentation at a stand level to provide a climate benefit analysis will imply analyses which are practically impossible, hence not meaningful, to conduct for the forest owner. A simple explanation is the long rotation periods, 50-120 years. To be useful, assessments on carbon balances need to be done at a landscape level. The recently published tool for calculation of forestry climate impact, PCR Basic products from forestry (PCR Detail - The International EPD® System (environdec.com)), is intended to be used for climate impact declarations based on LCA.
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Response to EU Forest Strategy

2 Dec 2020

Comments on the Roadmap for a common EU Forest strategy In summary, the forest strategy must address at least the following three aspects of forests and forestry: • How to meet the urgent need to sequester and store more carbon in forests and woodlands • An increased demand to utilise more wood products to substitute fossil-based materials and energy and at the same time • Conservation and management of biodiversity and sustainable management of other environmental services of basic important for our wellbeing In general, we welcome the ambition to formulate a more common view regarding forests and forestry, this since there are already a large number EU policies affecting both forests and forestry. Forests cover large areas in Europe and forests deliver multiple ecosystem services and nature-based solutions including: wood and fibre production, food, clear and clean water and air, habitats for plants and animals, soil formation, aesthetics, cultural, and social services. Further, the utilization of forests is an important economic factor not least in rural areas. In addition, forests and forestry constitute an important part of the ‘the European Green Deal’, and the anticipated transition towards a Bio-based economy. Further, a forest strategy needs to include the UN sustainability development goals (SDG). However, forests and forestry vary considerably along existing climate gradients, both North-South and East-West. These differences affect, for example, forest structure and species composition as well as frequencies of forest land. In addition, there are other factors like population pressures and water scarcity that need to be addressed. It is therefore of decisive importance that regional aspects are included and addressed and to seek regional balances between legitimate goals and conflicts that vary among member states and regions.
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