As leaders of forest-based industries in Sweden, we have examined the EU Commission’s updated bioeconomy strategy — and would like to suggest a few improvements related to the role of wood.
Excluding harvested biomass from the circular economy undermines the EU’s overall climate and growth objectives and creates confusion in policy along the wood-based value chain.
It is obvious that the bioeconomy – especially the forest-based bioeconomy – is undervalued in climate policy, despite the huge potential for substitution offered by wood-based products.
Instead of a compensation-driven net-zero, focus on rapid fossil reduction with near-zero goals. Wood-based solutions could be valued for displacing fossil emissions and forests could be appreciated for providing wood—not for keeping it.
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