Forest & climate

Limiting global warming is one of the greatest challenges of our time. As a forest company, we are one part of the solution. Firstly, as trees in our forests grow and capture and bind CO₂. Thereafter, as our sustainable raw materials are turned into products that replace those that leave a broader carbon footprint. In this way, oil and coal can remain underground.

Planta

As trees grow, they bind carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas affecting the Earth’s climate. Through photosynthesis, they use carbon dioxide to build wood fiber.

We manage our forests so the standing timber volume constantly increases. This means the trees bind more carbon each year and the forest thus helps to counteract climate change.

In this way, SCA’s forests bind four million tonnes of carbon dioxide, net, each year. This is roughly equal to all emissions from working machinery in Sweden over a year.

Active management 

The strong growth is thanks to our active management of the forest. We have healthy forests that grow well due to, among other measures, the use of improved seedlings from our own plant nurseries, active forest management, fertilization and by planting contorta pine in certain soils.

However, the forest industry’s climate effect is not only due to the CO₂ that growing forests bind, but also from the reduction of fossil emissions that arises when forest products replace products made from fossil-based materials. For example, paper can replace plastic and wood can replace steel and concrete. This means oil and coal can remain in the ground and this is referred to as the substitution effect.

Here too, growth in the forest is important so our climate benefit can be as large as possible. Higher growth leads to increased substitution – renewable alternatives can replace more fossil-based products and more carbon can remain in the ground.