This report is part of a carbon series:
- Download the Carbon Glossary via this link
- Download WoodSolutions technical design guide 55: ‘The Role of Wood Products in Zero Carbon Buildings‘ via this link.
- Access the Carbon Guides Social Media Asset library via this link.
The sustainable forest products industry in Australia can help reduce society’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. This Guide has been developed to indicate the extent to which plantations and other commercial forests, as well as the wood products produced from those forests, contribute to Australia’s carbon balance. It also identifies opportunities to improve that contribution. While the storage of carbon in forests is well understood, the important contribution that wood (both in service and after disposal) makes to carbon storage is less well recognised.
This Guide describes the key concepts associated with the life cycle of carbon in forest products and provides the latest facts and figures on the carbon balance in production forests and forest products in Australia. Existing frameworks for carbon accounting in the forestry sector, and opportunities to participate in carbon markets are described. There are various opportunities to improve the climate benefits of the industry even further. The positive role of sustainably managed forests in the global carbon cycle is widely recognised. The forest products industry in Australia is an important potential contributor to climate change mitigation. Sustainably managed plantations and native forests sequester carbon, and carbon can be stored for many decades in wood products. These range from traditional applications such as hardwood flooring and pine wall framing to newer products such as mass timber products in mid- to high-rise buildings. Carbon continues to be stored indefinitely even when products enter landfills. There are also net climate change benefits by selecting sustainably produced wood products over alternative products with higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emission footprints. The analysis of carbon flows between the atmosphere, forests, and wood and paper products involves estimates, assumptions and the use of models to simulate carbon fluxes over time. There are uncertainties in all these elements. Estimates presented here are the best available drawn from various sources based on realistic assumptions.
