Gregory Paradis

Forests play a crucial role in addressing climate change by serving as integral components of the carbon cycle. Primary production in forests actively fixes carbon from the atmosphere, whereby the interactions between this carbon sequestration and natural disturbances establishes carbon storage within the forest ecosystem. Numerous studies have been dedicated to evaluating carbon management in forests. Harvested logs undergo various manufacturing processes throughout their lifetime. From these processes, as well as natural decay, there are emissions associated with the production of harvested wood products. Despite these missions, wood products used as renewable materials contribute to climate change mitigation by substituting high-carbon-intensity materials. For example, bioenergy can replace coal in electricity generation, and cross-laminated timber (CLT) can substitute concrete in mid-to-high-rise commercial buildings. Life cycle analysis has been used to monitor emissions and replacement benefits of wood products. While forest carbon management and Harvested Wood Products (HWP) life cycle emissions have been modelled separately, a disconnect exists between these two methodologies, hindering a holistic view. To bridge this disconnection, this work developed an open-source forest system climate impact assessment model that incorporated forest carbon sequestration, dynamics of the forest ecosystem carbon pool, HWP life cycle emissions, and substituted emissions from HWP. The model is available online at Forest System Climate Assessment Model1. Through testing various harvesting and fertilization scenarios, this system-level model ex-plored the climate impact of different scenarios and HWP usage strategies. Key findings include:1. Forest harvesting practices have the potential to transform forest systems from sourcesof carbon emissions into carbon sinks.2. Temporal carbon storage in CLT plays a vital role in system emission reduction, with an impact two times higher than the substitution effect.3. HWP end-use could alter forest management strategies. These experiments underscore the importance of conducting a system-level climate impact assessment, while also demonstrating the potential utility of this information in policy making and carbon credit determination.

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