Sustainability criteria and the effect of wood pellet demand on forest carbon stock: literature review and feasibility study
Research into the impact of UK demand for woody biomass on forest carbon stocks and the influence of sustainability criteria.
Documents
Details
This research takes the form of a literature review and feasibility study. It aims to answer these key questions:
- the impact of UK demand for wood pellets on forest carbon stocks in south eastern USA, Canada and Europe
- how sustainability criteria could affect this
- how the sustainable supply could be maximized
- whether the results could have wider relevance
Literature review
The literature review into forest carbon stock changes resulting from wood pellet demand (as of 2018) was to identify existing knowledge and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. The studies covered a range of geographical regions, tree species and bioenergy and counterfactual scenarios, and came to a range of conclusions. Most approaches involved modelling, however the assumptions made, the majority of which were about forest management, and the degree of transparency within the models varied considerably. Even where stated, terminology was poorly defined, hindering comparison between studies.
Five main approaches to forest scenario development were identified, and 4 basic methodologies for evaluating forest carbon stock impacts, outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each:
- modelling
- analysis of national forest inventory (NFI) data
- field experiment
- interpretation of flux data
The review presents recommendations for the design of a full-scale study to minimize identified shortcomings.
Feasibility study
Based on the literature review results, Part B of the project developed a generic structure for a full-scale study of the effect of wood pellet demand on forest carbon stocks, and the potential influence of defined sustainability criteria.
It considers 4 assessment approaches:
- region-focussed, stakeholder-led
- installation-focussed case study
- assumptions-based
- existing available data and scientific evidence based
These options were considered for a possible full-scale study to address the questions posed by BEIS and the suggested methodology for each, including tasks involved, resource requirements and likely duration and costs. The study presents a qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of each option, including the ability of each methodology to address the 4 questions, and the extent to which other desirable outcomes are achieved, including transparency and likelihood of acceptance by stakeholders.
Analysis of the 4 methodologies concluded that there was no clearly identifiable ‘best’ approach, but that each had different strengths and weaknesses, with differing ability to address the 4 principal questions, so the study proposes a research programme consisting of a combination of assessment methods.