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“In Finland, forest use in itself does not cause and has not caused climate change. On the contrary, increased forest growth has curbed climate change. Roughly speaking, forest growth has doubled and the volume of wood has increased by more than 1.5 times in the last 50 years,” says Juho Rantala, SVP, Development.
One of our sustainability objectives is to increase the amount of carbon bound in forests by 30 per cent by the end of 2030 compared to 2018 levels. Our ambitious objectives help pave the way for a climate neutral society and a more sustainable future.
What does the objective mean in practice?
“The objective for the amount of carbon bound means that we actively manage and use our owner-members’ forests. Forests that are managed properly remain vital and grow well. They produce renewable raw material for the forest industry and ensure that carbon sink stays at a high level,” says Rantala.
How do we measure carbon bound in forests?
“We use two indicators to measure this: the area of newly established forests and the area of young stand management operations. These tell us about the active management and use of forests. It is also important that a new forest is established quickly after felling, by using high-quality cultivation materials and regeneration methods. Timely and appropriate young stand management ensures that the forest remains vital and grows well. Furthermore, young stand management also steers forest growth towards log wood that stores carbon for a long time first in the forest and, after felling, in wood products,” says Rantala.
“We are now developing our set of indicators, and instead of or in addition to focusing on the measures taken, we have considered measuring actual forest growth,” says Rantala.
How do we work in practice?
“Our forest specialists across Finland advise our owner-members on forest management. We actively market our forest management and wood trade services to our owner-members. By these efforts we aim to have access to sustainable raw material and that the forests continue to grow well also in the future,” says Rantala.
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Metsä Group’s strategic 2030 sustainability objectives pave the way to a sustainable climate-neutral future. This series of articles, called Choosing Sustainability, introduces our objectives and describes how we promote them in our daily work.