Calculating the Additional Carbon Sequestration of Finnish Forestry

Forestry sequestrates carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in living tree biomass, dead organic matter (DOM) and wood-based products. A part of the sequestration might be “additional“, i.e., increased sequestration compared to the business as usual forestry. This study developed a methodology for calculating the additional part of the carbon sequestration of Finnish forestry. Additionality was defined to be equal to increasing the carbon stocks beyond a reference level, which was equal to the carbon socks of current Finnish forestry. Models were developed for calculating the reference carbon stocks of living tree biomass, DOM and wood-based products, using site fertility and temperature sum as predictors. New models were also developed for initializing the carbon stocks of DOM and wood-based products. These models were used in simulations that predict the future changes of the carbon stocks in a given forest management scenario. The model system developed in this study makes it possible to calculate the future carbon stocks and additional carbon sequestration of any Finnish forest area in alternative forest management scenarios. The use of the system was demonstrated in three case study forests for two different management scenarios.