Wood resource balance (WRB) sheets are most useful in providing an overview of sources and uses of woody biomass, highlighting data gaps and inconsistencies. This technical report provides an analysis, on aggregated EU level, of WRB sheets available at https://ec.europa.eu/knowledge4policy/publication/wood-resource-balances. Summing the WRBs of individual Member States, the amount of woody biomass used in manufacturing of wood-based products and for heat and power exceed the total reported amount of woody biomass sources for all available years. We analyse these gaps, or ‘missing resources’, by (i) comparing wood removals data from official statistics with our own estimates of wood removals based on the amount of reported uses of wood for material purposes and energy generation and (ii) comparing secondary sources of woody biomass with their uses for material and energy production. Our results confirm that removals and fellings in official statistics are often underestimated, which means that on the overall EU level forest management intensity is likewise underestimated. They further indicate that the gap between reported uses and sources of woody biomass can mainly be attributed to the energy sector. An effort to improve data quality will be a key factor for reliable analysis of the wood-based economy.

JONSSON Klas;  CAZZANIGA Noemi;  CAMIA Andrea;  MUBAREKA Sarah; 

2021-01-29

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC122037

978-92-76-22970-4 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 30393 EN,    OP KJ-NA-30393-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC122037,   

10.2760/417678 (online),