Evaluation of the climate change mitigation potential of Canadian forest products

近年来，森林部门经历了衰退，这导致其通过开发新产品和新工艺进行转型。当前的气候变化背景也在推动这一转变，因为森林产品往往被认为是不可再生材料、化学品和能源的首选替代品。因此，越来越多的政策和方案旨在促进其使用，以及新产品和新工艺的开发。政府和行业需要强有力的量化工具来帮助他们确定最有效的措施，以实现温室气体减排目标，同时振兴森林部门。生命周期评估方法可用于这一目的，因为它允许比较具有相同功能的不同替代品对气候变化和其他环境问题的影响。然而，最近的文献表明，对森林产品进行的生命周期评估存在严重的局限性，这会危及从这些研究中作出的决定。这项建议的基本研究假设是，一个增强的相应LCA方法，一贯考虑生物碳和改善气候变化指标，将使政府和行业比较气候减缓潜力的各种举措在森林部门。因此，本研究计划的主要目标是开发一个相应的LCA框架，解决在最近的文献中发现的局限性。为实现这一目标，具体目标是：1）为森林产品生命周期评估制定生物源碳核算方法，2）确定和调整气候变化指标，以更好地说明与森林产品相关的影响，3）将森林产品和竞争材料纳入TIMES-Canada模型，和4）的方法通过整合通过前三个具体目标开发的知识，并将其应用于案例研究，比较加拿大森林产品从长远来看，这项研究将提供全面和一致的工具，帮助监管机构和转型行业确定利用森林产品减缓气候变化的最佳战略，并确定盈利条件（例如碳市场，补贴）以及潜在的障碍（例如资源可用性，自然干扰）。

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.***The underlying research hypothesis of this proposal is that an enhanced consequential LCA approach that consistently considers biogenic carbon and improved climate change indicators will enable government and industry to compare the climate mitigation potential of various initiatives in the forest sector. The main goal of this research program is thus to develop a consequential LCA framework addressing the limitations identified in recent literature. To reach this goal, specific objectives are: 1) to develop a biogenic carbon accounting method for forest product LCAs, 2) to identify and adapt climate change indicators that better account for impacts associated with forest products, 3) to integrate forest products and competing materials into the TIMES-Canada model, and 4) to validate the consequential LCA approach by integrating the knowledge developed through the three first specific objectives and applying it to a case study comparing the climate change mitigation potential of different Canadian forest products. In the long run, this research will provide comprehensive and consistent tools to help regulators and the transforming industry defining the best strategies for climate change mitigation using forest products, and identifying conditions for profitability (e.g. carbon market, subsidies) as well as potential barriers (e.g. resource availability, natural disturbances).**