The carbon sink of Finland’s forests is doubling
According to an estimate by Luke, the carbon sink of Finland’s forests could double by 2050, even if the roundwood harvesting volume would increase somewhat from its current level.
Furthermore, according to Luke, the current carbon sink of Finland’s forests has been achieved largely through sustainable and active forest management, which includes timely intermediate felling and the selection of a suitable tree species for each site as part of its regeneration.
“People often think that a forest will remain a big carbon storage if they just leave it be. But this is not so: in time, the trees will die and we will have lost the chance to use this valuable, carbon-storing raw material,” says Purhonen.
The measurements of the Finnish Meteorological Institute support this: according to them, old forests are poor carbon sinks – if not actual sources of carbon. “If forests are not managed or used, they will stop being a carbon sink and turn into a source of emissions instead,” says Matti Mikkola, Managing Director of the Federation of the Finnish Woodworking Industries.
“Forest management measures can increase carbon sinks and remove fossil-based carbon from the atmosphere while at the same time transferring the carbon storages to locations where they last for a long time, such as wood products for example in buildings,” adds Mikkola.