Evaluation of the climate change mitigation potential of Canadian forest products

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In recent years, the forest sector has undergone a decline, which is leading to its transformation through the development of new products and processes. The current climate change context is also driving this transformation since forest products are often claimed to be preferred alternatives to non-renewable materials, chemicals, and energy sources. Therefore, an increasing number of policies and programs aim to promote their use, as well as the development of new products and processes. Government and industry need robust quantification tools to help them identify the most efficient measures to reach greenhouse gas emission reduction targets while revitalizing the forest sector. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology could be used for such a purpose as it allows comparing the impact on climate change, and on other environmental issues, resulting from different alternatives having the same function. However, recent literature has shown that serious limitations regarding LCAs conducted on forest products jeopardize decisions taken from these studies.