Océane LE PIERRÈS

Directing more wood towards long-life products such as panels and insulation materials can help us maximise carbon sinks without increasing forest harvests. That’s because these products store carbon for a longer periods of time in form of long-lasting construction and renovation materials. But for this to happen in practice, more market opportunities and production capacity are needed. How can public policies help?

Achieving carbon neutrality will require the redirection of harvested wood towards long-life uses. To achieve carbon neutrality, France is relying on its carbon sink to balance residual emissions in 2050. A smaller carbon sink would require even greater emissions reductions from other sectors (transport, agriculture, industry, etc.), sectors in which France is already calling for drastic sixfold cuts between 1990 and 2050. In a context where the carbon sink in ecosystems is already falling sharply due to an increase in tree mortality, preserving this sink and developing carbon storage in wood products must be a major concern of the national climate policy.

In addition to debates about the right level of wood harvesting, another issue is equally crucial from a climate point of view: what is the best way to use the harvested wood? France’s long-term strategy, the Stratégie nationale bas-carbone (SNBC), calls for an increasing proportion of wood to be directed towards long-life wood products such as those used in construction, which store carbon for long periods. The aim is to redirect part of the resources currently dedicated to shorter uses, such as paper and energy production, towards these longer-lasting uses. While the objectives are very ambitious, the strategy does not come with the policies needed to achieve them. I4CE has therefore assessed the technical feasibility of redirection of the wood use, and has identified the most promising production chains of long-wood products.