Carbon capture and storage through the use of lodgepole pine

Project description

In the early 1970s, SCA introduced the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), a North American tree species, into its forest management programme.
Since then SCA has planted 300,000 hectares with the species and been able to verify that, in practice, the lodgepole pine has 40% higher wood production than Swedish species.
That means it sequesters the corresponding amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning it into a renewable raw material that can be used as a substitute for products with a higher climate footprint.

Today 300,000 hectares, of 15% of SCA’s forest land is planted with lodgepole pine. As the trees are still relatively young, they make up a minor share of the standing volume, at 11%. They do, however, contribute to more than 20% of the growth.

In the early 2000s SCA made a broad study of the best possible use of lodgepole pine in various production processes. The species was tested in chemical and mechanical pulp production; in the production of paper for print and packaging; and as raw material for sawmills; and the sawn products were tested for various forms of use. The outcome of these tests was that lodgepole pine provides good raw material for kraft pulp and for chemically pre-treated mechanical pulp.

Project Purpose

Lodgepole pine provides good raw material for sawn products for visible use. The high growth makes it less useful for construction wood and other applications where strength is needed, but for carpentry products, panelling and similar use, lodgepole pine has characteristics that are as good as or even better than the Swedish alternative species.

Project Evaluation

The balance between growth and harvesting in SCA’s own forests, 2.0 million hectares of productive forest land, is a net increase in the standing volume of 3 million cubic metres per year, a volume that corresponds to the net sequestration of 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Of this net growth, lodgepole pine provides a substantial and important share.

Jörn Lyngfelt

Senior Vice President

Since the Second World War, we have put great effort into restoring the forests of northern Sweden, after a century of exposition and high-grading, says Björn Lyngfelt, Senior Vice President for communications at SCA. We have since then increased the standing volume in our forests by 50% and the long-term sustainable yield by 100%.
The pioneer in the introduction of lodgepole pine in SCA and in Sweden was former Chief Forester Stig Hagner.

Hagner believed strongly that lodgepole pine would provide substantial economic and environmental benefits to the forests of northern Sweden and contribute to the prosperity of the region. He claimed that lodgepole pine was the most important biological innovation in northern Sweden since the introduction of the potato in the 18th century.

 

Main features:

Net increase in the standing volume of 3 million cubic metres per annum, in SCA’s own forests.

A volume that corresponds to the net sequestration of 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere