Benefits at all stages – from the forest to society

In Jämtland’s inland, along a forest road lined with tall spruce and pine, there is a track beneath embedded in hoarfrost. It is January. The days are short and the air still. A logging truck is parked up, its trailer loaded with logs felled that morning. They have been formed during a century of shifting seasons and slow growth that has made them strong.

The felled trees have done their part for the ecosystem, including as an efficient carbon sink. Slow growing, they have sequestered carbon throughout their lifetime, now the time has come to start contributing to something greater. When the truck leaves the forest, the climate benefit of the logs will continue with new momentum, via the sawmill and out into the world.

Still, their journey does raise questions. With each felling, voices are also raised concerning biodiversity, nature conversation and the real value of the forest. Should the trees have been left standing, continuing to store carbon in the forest?

On the other side of the debate, where utilisation becomes reality, the answer seems obvious. Steam rises from the sawmill’s dryers, dancing against the sky in the cold air, and from goods-in there is the constant dull clatter of newly arrived logs being sorted and separated based on their various attributes. All to maximise the value of each tree.

“Each plank, log and tree is unique. There are no exact copies. Each tree has grown in a special place, shaped by the weather and wind and cared for by hard-working people generations before us," says Peter Nilsson, Sawmill Manager at Munksund Sawmill in Piteå.

Here, in a sawmill that has been operating since the late nineteenth century, the extended benefits of the forest become more tangible: this is a building material with climate value. A tree that once grew in the soil of northern Sweden is on its way to becoming part of a building, a facade, a floor, a piece of furniture – something greater that is both structural and sequesters carbon.

“Timber is in many ways a living material, and handling a stately pine that has been growing for longer than a human lifespan inspires both respect and reverence. For me, there is a simple and ingenious logic in building with timber while managing forest regrowth,” he continues.

It begins in the forest

Just over half of Sweden’s forest is in the north of the country. The distances here are long and population density low, but the climate benefits are even greater. The forests are growing faster than they are being felled, and each year the amount of carbon sequestered in the trees increases. According to the report Norrland, skogen och klimatet [Norrland, the Forest and the Climate], the annual net carbon uptake of forests in Sweden’s four northernmost counties amounts to approximately 29 million tonnes CO2 equivalent (CO2e).This can be compared to Sweden’s total emissions from industry, transport and other sectors in 2023 of 44 million tonnes CO2e.

In other words, whether trees should be left standing in the forest is a key question. According to Per Funkquist, Vice President Sustainability at SCA, it is by utilising and felling the forest that we can ensure maximum climate benefit. By sequestering 
carbon in growing forests and providing society with the renewable raw material needed for the climate transition. All of this while also achieving other goals such as maintaining biodiversity. According to Funkquist, achieving this balance will require long-term, knowledge-based trade-offs rather than simplifying the issue as a series of contradictory aims.

“If the forest is to really make the maximum contribution to climate goals, we need a regulatory framework that encourages active forest management, substitution effects and a circular bioeconomy," says Funkquist.

This is a view shared by many of those working in the Swedish forest industry, not least in the ongoing discussion of the role of the forest at European level. There is a risk that new directives and regulations will equate all Member States despite the significant differences in forest types, management traditions and levels of responsibility. Sweden has often underlined the need for a more calibrated perspective that places greater importance on 
national conditions.

According to Funkquist, there is otherwise a risk of losing sight of both the climate and societal benefits of forestry. While acknowledging that the EU's ambitions are fundamentally positive, he believes that they are occasionally characterised by narrow, short-term thinking. Swedish forests are more than a passive carbon sink. Through active forest management, they both create high growth and are a source of renewable products, as well as climate benefits.

"It is important to understand that it is the entire forest cycle – from growing timber stock in the forest, through harvesting renewable forest raw materials to processing products that substitute for fossil-intensive ones – that together create climate benefits," he says.

Climate benefits at every stage

The sawmills of northern Sweden are thus more than simply industrial sites – they play a key role in a resource-efficient industrial cycle in which every to part of the tree is utilised. Just over half of the log is processed into sawn timber products. The rest – bark, savings and wood chips – are turned into paper pulp or biofuel to drive timber dryers and heat buildings. Many modern facilities are almost self-sufficient in energy, resulting in a low carbon footprint.

“We have a renewable raw material that sequesters carbon. This places high demands on us to make wise and balanced decisions at every stage of production. While we have come a long way, we are still working hard to further reduce our footprint in various ways, not least in our transport and logistics," says Nilsson.

His point demonstrates exactly what sets wood apart from many other materials. In other industries, efficiency drives are often about reducing the damage and lowering emissions from something that is already a burden to the climate. With wood, almost the reverse is true: more efficient processing enhances the existing benefits. As each board is already storing carbon, reducing the carbon footprint of production means that the benefit of the product itself is enhanced. Something that is already good becomes even better. The cleaner the process, the greater the climate value, something that can rarely be said of fossil-based alternatives.

This efficiency also characterises the entire value chain: short transport distances, local raw materials and processing, bio-based energy and a high degree of automation. The differences are striking. According to the report Norrland, skogen och klimatet [Norrland, the Forest and the Climate], Sweden’s four northernmost counties account for annual climate benefits equivalent to 43 million CO2e. The vast majority of these benefits are generated by substituting timber products for more emission-intensive materials such as steel, concrete and plastic. The substitution effect alone avoids almost 14 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

So, according to Per Funkquist, it is in the utilisation and management of forests that maximum climate benefit is realised, not only as a carbon sink but also as a replacement for something else.

"The role of forests is not only important but essential to the transition to a fossil-free society," emphasises Funkquist.

A timber building as a carbon sink

Think of an ordinary house built of wood: the frame, the joists, the cladding and floors all made from sawn timber products. In round figures, this will consume between 25 and 30 cubic metres of timber. This timber will have sequestered around 20 to 25 tonnes of carbon. According to calculations by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), this is the equivalent of over 100 return flights between Stockholm and London. This carbon will continue to be sequestered in the house for perhaps another century or more.

 At the Stockholm-based architectural practice Equator, which now works almost exclusively on commercial buildings and with professional clients, they are aware that this particular attribute is increasingly important. According to architect Louise von Bahr, a partner at Equator, in just a few years climate reporting has become a whole new ballgame.

“Today, everyone is after a lower carbon footprint. Of course, this driving force has placed new demands on us but it has also opened up new areas of knowledge and innovation at all levels. Not least when it comes to wood,” she says.

One obvious example is Logicenters new logistics centre in Bålsta. The project was completed in 2024, and Equator was involved from the initial concept to the final design. By using a timber frame and facade, as well as hemp-insulated wall panels, the project succeeded in reducing emissions by almost 90 per cent compared to more traditional building materials.

To enable more people to follow the same path in the future, von Bahr also highlights the need for more hybrid solutions. She believes that maximising the benefits of timber is a matter of both combining and substituting materials – using timber where possible and having the courage to innovate when it comes to interplay with other materials. This is a change that both demands and facilitates closer collaboration between industry stakeholders in order to jointly develop new concepts, production methods and products.

 "There is no escaping the fact that the choice of materials is extremely important when we build, and that there is a great deal of engineering that should be focused on timber," says von Bahr.

Building the future in timber

A new shift begins at the sawmill. The machines work rhythmically and steam from the dryer rises towards the winter sky. Timber that began its journey as slow–growing trees in the forests of northern Sweden has now been processed and stacked, ready for delivery to tomorrow’s construction projects.

To some extent, it remains to be seen how the attributes of these products will be valued in future legislation, regulation, climate policy and building standards. One thing that is certain is that the issue of how the forest is utilised going forward will shape both the industry and the future of the communities that live in and around the forest.

“The timber industry has manifestly created prosperity and quality of life in Sweden, perhaps for so long that people have actually stopped reflecting on it. But when we process slow-growth Norrland pine to build earthquake-proof houses in Japan, there is a deep and meaningful sense that we are making a difference," concludes Peter Nilsson.

For Nilsson and his colleagues in the industry, building in timber is not simply a matter of using renewable materials but rather about creating products that sequester carbon and substitute for emission-extensive alternatives. While new forests grow and sequester carbon from the atmosphere, the carbon already stored remains sequestered for generations to come in homes, schools and other timber structures.