Comprehensive and high-quality data on the environmental impacts of Finnish forest management are now available in the international ecoinvent database. This marks the first time that statistical data on Finnish forest management have been represented in a database widely used for life cycle assessments, environmental impact calculations, and sustainable decision-making across the globe.
In collaboration with the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation has collected detailed data on forestry practices ranging from growing seedlings, young forest stand management, soil preparation, and road maintenance through to thinning, final felling, and energy wood chipping. The data are based on extensive domestic statistics, research materials, and expert assessments, and have been modeled using life cycle assessment methods.
The new life cycle inventories include information on resources consumed in the production and harvest of spruce, pine, and birch trees. They also include information on emissions to air, water, and soil, as well as biogenic carbon stored in felled trees. Life cycle impact results have been calculated according to the EF 3.1 (Environmental Footprint) method, in addition to other impact assessment methods implemented in the ecoinvent database.
The newly published datasets increase transparency in the Finnish forest industry and offer researchers, businesses, and decision-makers reliable and comparable information to support sustainable choices. The entire forest industry value chain benefits from this data: material producers, converters, brand owners, consumers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. At the same time, Finnish Forest Industries enables the unique characteristics of domestic forest management to be highlighted in an international context.
“It is important that Finnish forest management is represented in international databases as its own entity. This improves understanding of how forests are managed in Finland and what environmental impacts are associated with it,” says Katriina Valkeapää, Senior Adviser, Product Policy at Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
The ecoinvent database is one of the most widely used sources for life cycle assessments globally. In the past, environmental impact assessments for Finnish forest industry products have often had to rely on Swedish data. Now, the inclusion of Finnish forest management data in ecoinvent enables more up-to-date, accurate, and locally relevant assessments of the environmental impacts of wood-based products.
