The forest can be a fantastic carbon dioxide store, says Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, professor of biology at Mid Sweden University, with forest as the main area of ​​work.

- If you leave a forest stock for 10-20 years, it will store as much carbon dioxide as it has done in the last 10-20 years, he says, saying that we miss opportunities to limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when we cut down the forest at relatively low levels. young age.

The forest can store double the amount of emissions

The knowledge can be put against a fresh proposal from the SNS Business Council that wants to collect carbon dioxide with so-called CCS technology at the industrial plants that emit the most in Sweden. An advanced solution where carbon dioxide is stored in the ground. At present, both unproven and expensive.

- The calculations we have made show that the Swedish forest can store more than twice as much carbon dioxide as our total emissions in a single year, says professor Bengt Gunnar Jonsson, who urges the forest industry to grow the forest and avoid producing short-lived paper products that quickly generate more carbon dioxide .

- If you build a wooden house, the carbon will remain in the house for a very long time and will not affect the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere.

The industry is skeptical

But the forest industry doesn't seem to want to listen to that ear.

- If you think that the carbon will remain in the forest, then one should think about what happens if we cut less of the forest and produce less of wood products, biofuels and paper that can replace fossil fuels, concrete and plastic. Then there will be a greater consumption of fossil material with a larger carbon footprint, says Björn Lyngfelt of the forest company SCA.