- If we now say that we would not harvest the Swedish forest for a year, then the forest will remain and bind carbon and the value could be estimated at SEK 42 billion, which is what the EU emissions trading system costs for the corresponding amount of carbon dioxide, explains Runar Brännlund who is a professor of economics at Umeå University.
- But if we can import the raw material from other countries so that the forest industry can continue to produce its products, then the value will fall to zero, because there will be less carbon dioxide-binding forest there instead, Brännlund continues.
This reasoning that it is a zero-sum game due to imports is questioned by Thomas Hahn, who researches ecological economics at the Stockholm Resilience Center.
The EU's new climate law would not allow increased imports from other EU countries, he believes.
Watch the video above to hear more and see the series The Battle for the Forest.