Chemrec comments on the interview with Sveaskog and the effects of the changing forest felling strategies
Patrik Löwnertz, VP Marketing & Sales
Biomass is fast becoming an international commodity with Europe being the primary importer and the Americas the primary exporter. This has in the last few years been driven by high international fuel oil and coal prices and high consumer taxation of fossil fuels in the EU. To that is now added ambitious EU and national targets for renewable energy. But will it be sustainable to move biomass from the heavily fossil-fuel dependent US Southeast to an equally fossil-fuel dependent UK or is this just a transitional phenomenon?
The interview with Roger Johansson at Sveaskog really made it clear that legislation is shaping the forestry biomass sector for better and for worse. It highlights the need for a uniform treatment of different methods for replacing fossil fuels. Carbon-neutral energy use of forest biomass should not be given preference in legislation over its use in value-added carbon-neutral products such as milk cartons or construction lumber. Nor does it make sense giving motor fuels use of e g bioethanol or biomethanol priority over their use as chemical feedstocks for plastics and binders where the intrinsic value is higher. Patchwork legislation covering one raw material or one mode of use only leads to poor resource utilization and perverts the competition between different industries.
What also is made clear by the interview is that the forestry industry is based on an attractive, renewable raw material which is so flexible in its use that it provides the industry with many possibilities. Energy, packaging or building structures, the forest can provide it all and on top of that a fantastic environment for our recreation, flora and fauna. With the right technologies, the proper regulatory framework, hard work and some common sense we can make the most of it.