Forests and wood products provide significant climate change mitigation benefits, including the carbon storage in harvested wood products and substitution benefits associated with the use of wood instead of more fossil fuel intensive materials such as concrete and steel.
In August 2022, Coillte published Forests for Climate - Report on Carbon Modelling of the Coillte Estate. This report details an assessment undertaken to determine the current Greenhouse Gas (GHG) profile of Coillte’s existing managed forest estate and to identify and assess the GHG mitigation potential of silvicultural management options based on a number of assumptions set out in the report.
The report clearly sets out the system boundaries of the modelling work that was undertaken. The product substitution category is based on the allocation of harvested timber to harvested wood products including energy and the potential emissions avoided through the displacement of fossil fuel intensive materials.
The EPA and LULUCF reporting process includes harvested wood products but does not include the emission reductions associated with the displacement of fossil fuel intensive materials.
The modelling work undertaken by Coillte is not bound by the EPA and LULUCF reporting requirements. This approach is valid and provides another approach to assessing the contribution that forests and wood products provide in mitigating climate change. Importantly, the approach used by Coillte ensures that the displacement is additional mitigation and therefor valid for inclusion.
