Trading fossil and biogenic carbon emissions: Assessments of substitution effects for different value chains

The project takes a holistic perspective on the assessment of the important substitution factors that indicate the climate benefits of replacing emission-intensive materials and fuels with wood products. It includes replacing materials such as concrete and steel with wood-based products in the construction sector, fossil fuels with biofuels in the transportation sector, oil-based plastics with bioplastics in the manufacturing sector, as well as replacing fossil-based materials with bio-based ones in consumer product design and selection of materials.

The projects aims to empirically quantify substitution factors for five forest biomass value chains. Substitution factors take into account the characteristics of the wood products, the non-wood products they replace, differences in the life expectancy of the products and end-use management. The estimated substitution factors are used to assess the climate effect in different scenarios. New knowledge is produced that can be used as a basis for decisions.