A preliminary comparative assessment of the climate impact of firewood supply from Belgium and Eastern Europe to the Belgian market Introduction Lampiris Wood is a 100% Belgian and independent supplier of high-qualitative firewood and wood pellets. All firewood is sourced from sustainably managed forests in Belgium or Northern France and is dried naturally. Lampiris Wood requested CO2logic to realize a preliminary comparative assessment of the climate impact of firewood supply from Belgium and Eastern Europe to the Belgian market. The goal of this short exploratory study is to compare the estimated total carbon emissions related to the production and transport of certified firewood from Belgian or near-by forests with non-certified firewood from East-European forests such as Ukraine and Romania. The calculation of the carbon emissions is a rough estimation as the availability of actual primary data is limited, but it will already give an order of magnitude. Methodology The most appropriate way to compare the climate impact of locally produced firewood with East- European firewood is to make a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO 14044 or the PEF (European Product Environmental Footprint). This preliminary study uses the principles of a comparative LCA as guidelines but does not go into the same level of detail. In order to have an immediate basic answer to the research question, two scenarios are developed and its corresponding emissions are calculated based on figures from the ecoinvent database. The worldwide recognized life cycle inventory (LCI) database ecoinvent (Ecoinvent Centre, 2010) includes wood production and harvesting processes, but mainly coming from sustainably managed forests (without deforestation, no use of fertilizers or pesticides). The ecoinvent database doesn t allow differentiating certified wood from non-certified wood, which will underestimate the climate impact of wood products if they are using non-certified wood. Indeed, an important difference between certified and non-certified wood that influences quantifiable environmental impacts within the context of LCA is the assurance that certified products are not derived from deforestation activities. To fill this gap, PEFC, one of world s largest forest certification systems, commissioned Quantis to realize a life cycle assessment (LCA) of certified and non-certified wood (Quantis 2013). The result of this study will be used in the quantification of the greenhouse gas emissions of the considered scenarios in this preliminary comparative evaluation. The functional unit for this comparative assessment is one cubic meter (m 3 ) of hardwood. This unit is also used in the ecoinvent life cycle assessments of wood as fuel and construction material. For wood used as fuel (but also for material use), the water content of the wood is very important because it changes the density and the heating value in wide ranges. To overcome this problem, the functional unit is m 3, since the volume remains more or less constant with changing water content. Trees are divided into broad classes, usually referred to as hardwoods and softwoods. These names can be confusing since some softwoods are actually harder than some hardwoods, and vice versa. Typically, hardwoods are plants with broad leaves that, with few exceptions in the temperate region, lose their leaves in autumn or winter. Softwoods are usually cone-bearing plants with needles or scalelike evergreen leaves. The datasets provided in ecoinvent for the quantification of the climate impact of 1 P a g e
forestry processes make most of the time the distinction between hardwood and softwood. The type of wood considered in this comparative assessment is hardwood. Scenarios and CO 2 emission calculations The exploratory study compares natural dried firewood supplied from sustainably managed forests in Belgium with non-certified kiln dried firewood supplied from Eastern Europe. The scenario in which natural dried firewood is supplied from certified forest in Belgium in presented below: Scenario 1: Process certified firewood supply from Belgium Forest Management Harvesting Natural Drying Splitting Transport This scenario presumes the supply of certified firewood, which means that the firewood comes from responsibly managed forests as defined by a particular standard like PEFC or FSC. Forest management includes processes for technical wood production like: Tree nursing: the cultivation of tree seedlings from seeds in tree nurseries; Stand establishment: the planting of the trees in the foreseen grounds and additional protective measures against damages caused by forest fauna. Planting is commonly made with planting machines mounted on forestry tractors; Tending: tending of forest plantations, i.e. of artificially established stands or crops, during the establishment stage; Cleaning: Improvement felling during the thicket stage aiming at regulating species composition, stocking level and stand stability; Thinning: Several subsequent fellings made in an immature crop or stand in order primarily to accelerate diameter increment but also to salvage potential mortality and to improve the average form of the remaining trees. All these process steps require specialized diesel-powered equipments and forestry tractors. The process hardwood, stand establishment / tending / site development, under bark in ecoinvent has a climate impact of 3.22 kg CO 2 e/m 3. This value includes motor manual processes for stand establishment, tending and site development for beech and the land and material (including transports) use for the forest roads. Harvesting includes several subsequent cuts made in the mature stand. Cutting is usually made with big chainsaws for felling and with small chainsaws from disbranching. The wood are cut into one meter long log pieces, loaded onto tractor-driven trailer, and transported to nearest forest road with forestry tractors. All these equipments and vehicles are diesel powered. According to ecoinvent the carbon emissions to be accounted to the process step residual wood, hardwood, under bark, u=80%, at forest road are 7.14 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The wood transported to the nearest forest road is considered to have a moisture content of 80%. Natural drying allows the evaporation of as much water as possible before transport. Air drying occurs during storage at the margin of forest roads and is usually extended until wood moisture contents decreases to 20-30%. Some wood suppliers would prefer to technically increase the drying rate in order to avoid the high cost of stocking a large inventory of high value wood for extended periods. In 2 P a g e
this scenario (which is the case for all suppliers of Lampiris Wood) the wood is dried naturally. The CO 2 emissions attributed to natural drying are calculated as the difference between the process step in ecoinvent residual wood, hardwood, under bark, air dried, u=20%, at forest road and the process step residual wood, hardwood, under bark, u=80%, at forest road, which is 1.00 kg CO 2 e/m 3. These are emissions related to fuel consumption of manipulating and storing the wood. Land use of forest is not considered here as related emissions are included in the process step Forest management. Splitting is reducing the size of the logs for final consumption. The logs are split along the grain with a mobile, tractor-powered cleaving machine. The process in ecoinvent logs, hardwood, at forest has a climate impact of 13.60 kg CO 2 e/m 3. Transport is related to the trajectory between the forest and the firewood supplier and between the firewood suppliers and distribution centers of Lampiris Wood. All suppliers and distribution centers are located in Belgium. The wood is supplied from forests located in Belgium or in the North of France. The total distance is estimated at 120 km. One truck carries 75 m 3 of firewood. It is assumed that the trucks realize the distance of 120 km back and forth fully loaded and unloaded. To calculate the climate impact of transport the emission factors from Bilan Carbone (ABC 2014) are used for truck with payload capacity of more than 21 ton: 0.988 kgco 2 e/km for an empty truck and 1.422 kg CO 2 e/km for a full loaded truck. The climate impact of transport in this scenario is estimated at 3.9 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The overall climate impact of the supply of certified firewood from Belgium is estimated at 28.8 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The distribution between the different process steps is presented in the table below. These calculations reveal that splitting contributes by far the most to the total climate impact, followed by harvesting. Transport has rather a minor contribution as distances between forests and distribution centers are limited. It s clear that locally sourced wood products reduce the climate impact of firewood. Process step Climate impact Forest management 3.2 kg CO 2e/m 3 11 % Harvesting 7.1 kg CO 2e/m 3 25 % Drying 1.0 kg CO 2e/m 3 4 % Splitting 13.6 kg CO 2e/m 3 47 % Transport 3.9 kg CO 2e/m 3 13% TOTAL 28.8 kg CO 2e/m 3 100% The scenario with the supply of non-certified kiln dried wood from Eastern Europe is presented below: Scenario 2: Process non-certified kiln dried firewood supply from Eastern Europe Harvesting Kiln Drying Splitting Transport Different studies and scientific articles mention practices of illegal logging in Eastern Europe contributing to significant deforestation. A Greenpeace study realized in 2012 reveals that the total deforested and degraded area in Romania between 2000 and 2011has been of 280,108 hectares approximately 28,000 hectares per year (Greenpeace 2012). Another study (Knorn J. 2012) shows 3 P a g e
through satellite image analysis that old-growth forest 1 cover in Romania declined by 1.3% from 2000 to 2010. In addition 72% of the old-growth forest disturbances are found within protected areas, highlighting the threats that are still facing these forests. It is clear that wood supplied from illegal logging and contributing to deforestation can t be considered as carbon neutral and will have its implication on the total climate impact. Harvesting of non-certified wood will not only have a climate impact through diesel consumption of chainsaw equipments and forestry tractors, but also due to the unsustainable management of forests. The data in ecoinvent on wood production and harvesting processes are mainly coming from sustainably managed forests (without deforestation, no use of fertilizers or pesticides). It is therefore not possible to differentiate between certified and non-certified wood using the ecoinvent database. The wood processes available in the ecoinvent database are underestimating the impact of wood products if they are used to assess non-certified wood products. Therefore, differentiated datasets in ecoinvent need to be created which consider how non-certified wood potentially contributes to global deforestation. This has been done through a study commissioned by PEFC and realized by Quantis 2 (Quantis, 2013). Different assumptions have been taken into account to realize the quantification of the climate impact of harvesting non-certified wood. The relation is made between unsustainable logging and its role in deforestation. As forest management certification provides assurances for the sustainability of forest management, it is considered that uncertified forest operations bear the responsibility of logging s role in deforestation. Therefore, since certified wood provides evidence that no deforestation took place, it is assumed that deforestation is only related to non-certified wood. As first approximation, deforestation is considered as a permanent loss of primary forest or old-growth forests. The study created a new data set for the process Residual wood, hardwood, non-certified, under bark, u=80% at forest road / GLO 3 and is quantified at 62.4 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The impacts considered are (i) machines to cut the trees and transport them; (ii) infrastructures necessary for the machinery (access road, shed); (iii) biomass burning and degradation; and (iv) emissions due to land use change like carbon loss from soils and changes in other emissions (N2O, CH4, etc.) from soils. The process corresponds to the one used for the quantification of harvesting in scenario 1, where process residual wood, hardwood, under bark, u=80%, at forest road is considered with climate impact of 7.1 kg CO 2 e/m 3. Kiln drying is often used in Eastern countries to avoid stocking of large inventory of high value wood for extended periods. In kiln drying, higher temperatures and faster air circulation are used to increase the drying rate considerably. The process in ecoinvent Sawn timber, softwood, raw, kiln dried, u=20%, at plant 4 has been used to quantify climate impact of kiln drying in this scenario and corresponds to 69.3 kg CO 2 e/m 3. It corresponds to producing the necessary energy to reduce the moisture content of the wood of 70% to 20% in a reduced timeframe. Splitting is reducing the size of the logs when these have the appropriate moisture content. The climate impact of splitting considered in this scenario with wood supplied from Eastern Europe is the same as in the scenario where the wood is supplied from Belgium. The process from ecoinvent logs, hardwood, at forest is used and has a climate impact of 13.6 kg CO 2 e/m 3. 1 An old-growth forest (also termed primary forest) is a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. 2 Quantis is a leading life cycle assessment (LCA) consulting firm specialized in supporting companies to measure, understand and manage the environmental impacts of their products, services and operations 3 GLO refers to global location, as non-certified wood is generally from unkown location. We assume that this process is representative for the supply of non-certified wood from Romania, as the illegal logging reported in Romania has an undeniable climate impact. 4 Only one process in ecoinvent database is available to quantify the climate impact of kiln drying till moisture content of 20%. For this reason softwood is taken instead of hardwood. Other kiln data figures (drying till moisture content of 10%) show that the climate impact of hard wood kiln drying is up to 6 % higher than the one for softwood. This suggests that the used figure is also representative for hard wood. 4 P a g e
Transport considered in this scenario is an average distance of 2000 km between Belgium and Eastern Europe. It is assumed that one truck transports 75 m3 of firewood and realizes the distance of 2000 km back and forth fully loaded and unloaded. The used emission factors are the same as in previous scenario. The climate impact of transport of firewood from Eastern Europe to Belgium is estimated at 64.3 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The overall climate impact of the supply of non-certified kiln dried firewood from Eastern Europe is estimated at 209.6 kg CO 2 e/m 3. The distribution between the different process steps is presented in the table below. These calculations reveal that non-certified wood harvesting, kiln drying and transport have an approximately equal climate impact, whereas splitting has rather a minor contribution. Process step Climate impact Harvesting 62.4 kg CO 2e/m 3 30 % Kiln Drying 69.3 kg CO 2e/m 3 33 % Splitting 13.6 kg CO 2e/m 3 6 % Transport 64.3 kg CO 2e/m 3 31% TOTAL 209.6 kg CO 2e/m 3 100% Conclusion The result of the preliminary comparative assessment between the supply of natural dried certified firewood from Belgium with kiln dried non-certified firewood from Eastern Europe is presented in the figure below. Based on secondary data provided by ecoinvent one can say that the climate impact of kiln dried non-certified firewood from Eastern Europe is sevenfold the climate impact of natural dried certified firewood from Belgium. This major difference can be explained through extended contributions in harvesting, drying and transport. Harvesting wood in a non-sustainable way contributes to deforestation and has an increased climate impact. Kiln drying requires additional energy to speed up the drying process compared to natural drying. The relative importance of transport in the climate impact of firewood supply chain increases sharply with the distance. As soon as the distance to carry air dried certified wood exceeds 500 km, transport becomes the highest share in the climate impact. Climate impact of firewood supply kg CO 2 e/m 3 250 200 150 100 50 0 62,4 69,3 3,2 N/A 7,1 1,0 Forest management 13,6 13,6 3,9 Harvesting Drying Splitting Transport Total Scenario 1: Certified wood from Belgium with natural drying 64,3 Scenario 2: Non-certified wood from Eastern Europe with kiln drying 28,8 209,6 5 P a g e
A household in Belgium consumes yearly on average 2000 l of heating fuel or 20000 kwh of gas to produce the necessary heat for his house. If this heat would be produced with firewood, 8.8 m3 of firewood would be needed (Valbiom) 5. The emissions related to average household consumption of heating fuel is estimated at 6.4 tco 2 and are presented below. In the case that gas is used, the emissions are estimated at 4.7 tco 2. If an equivalent of heat would be produced with air dried certified wood from Belgium the corresponding emissions would be 0.3 tco 2 e. One can conclude that using over a period of one year locally sourced air dried certified wood from Belgium for heating purposes instead of heating fuel will avoid 6.1 tco 2. This amount of avoided emissions corresponds to: Driving with an average car 34,000 km; Watching television during 146,000hours or 17 years; Two return flights Brussels Washington; Four households following vegetarian food consumption during one year. t CO 2 7,0 6,0 5,0 4,0 3,0 2,0 1,0 0,0 CO2 emissions related to yearly heat production for average Belgian household 6,4 4,7 Heating fuel Gas Locally sourced airdried certified wood from Belgium 0,3 References Association Bilan Carbone (2014), Bilan_Carbone_V7.2 Ecoinvent Centre, (2010) ecoinvent database v 2.2. Greenpeace Romania (2012) Romania cuts down 3 hectares of forest per hour! http://www.greenpeace.org/romania/ro/campanii/paduri/activitati/romania-cuts-down-3-hectares-offorest-per-hour/ (consulted on 24/10/2014) Knorn J. et al (2012) Continued loss of temperate old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians despite an increasing protected area network in Environmental Conservation 40 (2): 182 193 Murphy F. (2013) Forest biomass supply chains in Ireland: A life cycle assessment of GHG emissions and primary energy balances Quantis - De Schryver, A. G. (2013). Comparative life cycle assessment of certified and non-certified wood - Final report. Lausanne: Quantis Switzerland. ValBiom Valorisation de la Biomasse Type de combustible et appareils de chauffage http://www.valbiom.be/files/library/docs/bois-energie/fiche-buche.pdf (consulted on 24/10/2014) Werner F. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Wood a Fuel and Construction Material 5 1 m 3 of wood corresponds to 228 l of heating fuel 6 P a g e