Wood is a highly versatile material that can be sustainably used and reused in cascade across multiple processes, ranging from wood-based manufacturing to energy production plants. However, the available data on sources and uses of woody biomass at each step of the value chain are fragmented, patchy and show significant heterogeneity in quality. In this report, we first apply data pre-processing and harmonisation techniques to derive a robust assessment of woody biomass sources and uses along the main supply chains of the forest-based sector for all 27 EU Member States from 2012 to 2021. Second, we aggregate these results at the EU level for the same time span. The calculated results are represented through Sankey diagrams, a widely adopted tool for illustrating the whole value chain of material flows. The obtained diagrams provide a comprehensive illustration of woody biomass flows within the forest-based sector, showing the interrelations between biomass sources and uses. The Sankey diagrams organize information in nodes (representing sources, processes or uses) and oriented arrows representing flows, i.e., the amount of transferred biomass from one sector to another, all in a common unit of measurement (cubic meters solid wood equivalent). The results provide a detailed description of the utilization of woody biomass along the value chain up to semi-finished products, showing a growing trend through time in almost all subsectors. The diagrams are available in an interactive format on the EC Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy (KCB) web platform and are intended to serve as essential knowledge tools for both policymakers and researchers. They can be visualized and downloaded here: https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/visualisation/interactive-sankey-diagrams-woody-biomass-flows-eu-member-states_en, where you will find the latest version. A permalink of the version described in this specific report is available in Cazzaniga et al (2026): http://data.europa.eu/89h/7693d92f-561a-4200-8af9-834837f0cede.

CAZZANIGA Noemi Emanuela;  TANDETZKI Julia;  CAMIA Andrea; 

2026-07-30

Publications Office of the European Union

JRC146673

978-92-68-41155-1 (online),   

1831-9424 (online),   

EUR 40771,    OP KJ-01-26-280-EN-N (online),   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC146673,   

10.2760/9269471 (online),