The Timber Footprint of the German Bioeconomy—State of the Art and Past Development

Vincent Egenolf, Gibran Vita, Martin Distelkamp, Franziska Schier, Rebekka Hüfner and Stefan Bringezu
Additional contact information
Vincent Egenolf: Sustainable Resource Futures Group (SURF), Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, 34117 Kassel, Germany
Gibran Vita: Sustainable Resource Futures Group (SURF), Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, 34117 Kassel, Germany
Martin Distelkamp: Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftliche Strukturforschung, 49080 Osnabrück, Germany
Franziska Schier: Thünen Institut für Internationale Waldwirtschaft und Forstökonomie, 21031 Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany
Rebekka Hüfner: Sustainable Resource Futures Group (SURF), Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, 34117 Kassel, Germany
Stefan Bringezu: Sustainable Resource Futures Group (SURF), Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, 34117 Kassel, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: The article gives a comprehensive overview of the roundwood equivalents (RE) consumed in the German bioeconomy from Germany and abroad between 1995 and 2015, i.e., the Timber Footprint of final Consumption (TFP con ). The calculation is based on an adapted version of Exiobase 3.4. The sustainability of roundwood procurement for the TFP con is assessed. A systematic embedding of the tree compartments considered in the TFP in the context of national forest inventories and material flow analysis is presented. The results show that, in 2015, the total volume of the TFP con of Germany is 90 Mm 3 (slightly above the 1995 level) and is composed of 61% coniferous and 39% non-coniferous wood. Germany is strongly dependent on roundwood sourced from abroad and thus was a net importer of RE in 2015. Among the 17 countries with the largest supply of RE for the TFP con , around one third very likely include large shares of roundwood procured from deforestation or clear-cutting. The self-sufficiency rate in 2015 was only 76%. It would be possible to increase domestic roundwood production by 8–41% (mainly in the hardwood sector) without exceeding the sustainability limits as defined in the WEHAM scenarios.

Keywords: roundwood equivalents; supply security; environmental monitoring; environmental input–output analysis; sustainable consumption and production; resource footprints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3878/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3878/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3878-:d:527838

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().