Last July, the Department of the Taoiseach invited submissions on developing Ireland’s bioeconomy.

The bioeconomy is defined as the areas of the economy that use renewable biological resources, including agriculture, forestry and marine. These produce food, feed, energy, fuels, biomaterials, chemicals, pulp and paper, sometimes referred to as the 4Fs – food, feed, fibre and fuel.

The role that forestry can play in the bioeconomy was outlined in a submission from the forestry and forest products sector to the Department of the Taoiseach recently. The report, Growing the Irish Forest Bioeconomy, was launched last week by Andrew Doyle, Minister of State with responsibility for forestry. It outlines how forest biomass has a triple carbon benefit:

  • Carbon sequestration as forests grow.
  • Carbon storage in forest biomass in wood products which displace materials with high-embedded carbon such as steel, aluminium and concrete, as well as generating energy which displaces fossil fuels.
  • Recycling: at the end of its useful life, forest-based biomass products can be recycled into carbon-neutral thermal energy and used for heating and/or electricity.

    • The report was produced by a working group established by COFORD – the Council for Forest Research and Development. Chaired by Gerard Murphy, managing director, Coillte Forest, it based its findings on consultation with stakeholders, as well as conducting a series of workshops to assess and to score the existing and future forest bioeconomy.

    Gerard Murphy maintained that the national forest estate’s high growth rates and carbon sequestration produced high scores for mitigating and adapting to climate change, which has positive implications for Ireland’s agricultural sector.

    “However, significant room for development was found in areas such as increasing competitiveness and creating jobs as well as reducing dependence on non-renewable resources,” he said.

    “These are the areas where we see most potential in Ireland’s future bioeconomy.’’

    Minister Doyle said: “The bioeconomy concept has emerged as a response to the global challenges of food security, energy security, climate change and the depletion of non-renewable resources.

    “Substituting sustainably produced wood for fossil resources facilitates decarbonisation and continued economic growth. It also improves economic resilience and has a contribution to make to rural economies.”

    Proposals

    The report includes the following proposals:

  • Position forestry as a central pillar of Ireland’s national policy on the bioeconomy. This opening ambitious proposal is based on Ireland’s commitment to a decarbonisation approach, which involves carbon neutrality in the land-use sector without compromising food production. Because Ireland can increase its forest cover by 60% without negatively affecting agricultural production, afforestation is Ireland’s most cost-effective carbon land-use action. The rate of carbon sequestration peaks at a relatively early age in fast-growing tree species and early action will contribute to carbon goals. There are advantages for agriculture and forestry should this proposal be accepted and implemented.
  • Embed the cascade use principle for wood resource management and planning in national policy. Cascading means maximising timber use so that it can be used, reused and recycled multiple times before end of life.
  • Develop an integrated carbon and land-use policy that recognises the significant sequestration and storage potential of the forest sector in Ireland. Unlike other EU countries where the average forest cover is 38%, Ireland, at 11%, has room to increase its forest cover. The EU’s acceptance of forestry in reducing greenhouse gasses also presents opportunities for agriculture.
  • Ensure a long-term, consistent and growing supply of roundwood to the processing industry by supporting and investing in the national afforestation programme. COFORD’s stated optimum annual afforestation programme is 12,000ha or double recent planting performance.
  • Urgently address constraints on the productive capacity of the existing forest estate and barriers to wood mobilisation. Existing publications by COFORD, on wood mobilisation and land availability for afforestation, identify constraints that need to be addressed.
  • Develop mechanisms to promote the use of low carbon building materials and adopt a strong ‘‘wood first’’ public sector procurement policy.
  • Review national building standards to support and promote the use of wood as a construction material. The COFORD report Timber in Multi-storey Construction identifies over 40 timber buildings between five and 14 stories tall built around the world using cross laminated timber (CLT).

    Research is being carried in NUI Galway on CLT, based on homegrown spruce. Engineered wood such as CLT has major economic and environmental benefits in construction, providing Irish building regulations are addressed. The regulations currently have limits on the use of timber, which uniquely in Ireland, limits the maximum height of a timber building to three storeys.

  • Support and promote the innovative use of wood products in construction such as CLT through research, training and professional development (see previous proposal).
  • Establish a well-resourced forest bioeconomy centre of excellence in Ireland and increase public and private investment in forest bioeconomy research.
  • Promote a deeper understanding of the economic, social and environmental benefits of the forest sector among the general public through a well-resourced and sustained communications campaign.

    • Since 2012, the EU has identified the benefits of the bioeconomy in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, as well as providing jobs and business opportunities. Balancing the global need for a safe and secure food supply against climate change objectives is a major challenge.

    For example, the EU Horizon 2020 states a “70 % increase of the world food supply is estimated to be required to feed the nine billion global population by 2050”. It outlines the challenges in balancing food production against climate change objectives as “agriculture accounts for about 10 % of the EU greenhouse gases emissions, and while declining in Europe, global emissions from agriculture alone are still projected to increase up to 20 % by 2030”.

    The EU aims to incorporate land use and forestry into its emission-reduction efforts, so the actions of forest owners and farmers to secure carbon stored in forests and soils will contribute to achieving the EU’s commitment under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

    Against this background and the benefits outlined in Growing the Irish Forest Economy, the implementation of the report has benefits for the bioeconomy, especially the forestry and agricultural sectors.