Challenges and Opportunities for the Mobilisation of Forest Bioenergy in the Boreal and Temperate Biomes

Book chapter, 2016

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This book identifies opportunities and challenges for the mobilisation of sustainable forest biomass from supply chains operating in the boreal and temperate biomes. The respective feedstock plays a critical role in meeting global deployment levels for bioenergy, which in turn are necessary to stabilise global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and atmospheric carbon levels. Many aspects of bioenergy supply chains (such as logistics and trade, supply chain variability, technology learning and transfer, governance, organisational structures) present both challenges and opportunities and relate to all three dimensions of sustainability. Energy and forest systems can be integrated across landscapes and organisations to establish attractive solutions guided by good governance of forest management and biomass use (eg, policies, regulations, standards and certification systems). Nevertheless, substantial gains in forest bioenergy mobilisation can only be achieved with an important increase in forest management intensity, causing a larger appropriation of forest net primary production (NPP). Such intensification would likely require fundamental shifts in the forest systems and considerable societal change, in some countries. A multifaceted policy effort to support a broad array of technological, structural and behavioural changes is needed to enable energy and industrial transitions and the development of supply chains that deliver feedstock to a range of conversion and utilisation routes.