Standards may seem dull, but they play a crucial role in defining how things should be done or calculated. In this case, we are dealing with a completely new standard that finally, once and for all, establishes how the forest’s total climate contribution should be measured. Until now, calculations have varied depending on what one wanted to demonstrate. Above all, most assessments have overlooked – or deliberately avoided – the most essential aspect: how forest-based products displace emissions from oil- and coal-based alternatives.
Ever since the Rio climate conference in 1992, policymakers have sought solutions to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Even then, it was agreed that solutions should be pursued along two paths: reducing emissions, and increasing carbon storage in products and soils. So far, so good. But when attention turned to the role of forests, policy became one-eyed – focusing almost exclusively on forests as carbon sinks, while missing their enormous potential to supply raw materials that can replace fossil-based materials. Markets outside politics followed the same track. In the development of carbon credits, an entire carriage was left behind at the platform, with systems based solely on keeping trees standing as carbon reservoirs.
At last, there is now a new international standard for how these calculations should be made. Naturally, the new method accounts for carbon sequestration in forests and carbon storage in forest products, just as many previous methods have done. What is new is that it also calculates how much fossil emissions are avoided when forest products reduce reliance on oil and coal. The standard also takes into account that forest production itself generates fossil emissions – for example, because today’s harvesters still run on diesel. For the first time ever, the standard gives us a holistic picture of climate impact, exactly in line with what was agreed at the Rio conference decades ago.
This new method of calculation has been highlighted by the government-appointed forestry inquiry, which presented its final report earlier this autumn. The inquiry put forward a number of sound proposals, one of which is that Sweden should adopt the new standard when assessing the climate contribution of forests. We can only hope that members of parliament are wise enough to recognize the power of this approach—and that they will also take the issue forward at EU level.
I apologize if this editorial may seem somewhat dry, as it deals with standards. But I trust that those of you who have read this far recognize the significance of ISO 13391. I hope you will help apply political pressure so that our forests are finally credited with their full climate contribution, rather than being left unmanaged as mere carbon stores.
Pär Lärkeryd, CEO, Norra Skog