Europe’s wood supply in disruptive times

The main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive synthesis of existing scientific and technical knowledge on a wide range of factors influencing wood supply from European forests, with a special focus on the European wood-based industry. This analysis addresses the severe impacts of climate change on forests and the implications these impacts have for forest management, highlighting interconnections with a wide range of policies at various levels, with factors including different conditions under various socioeconomic frameworks, changes in land ownership, and behaviour patterns of forest owners. Furthermore, this publication explores the current state of innovations and new technologies that further influence the future of wood-based industries. It also identifies potential response options that the wood-based industries, forest owners and forest managers – as well as policymakers, decision-makers and other stakeholders – could apply to ensure the continued supply of wood in Europe and the permanence of the wood-based industry. These potential response options are based on relevant literature, results of empirical research, and discussions with experts and stakeholders from across the forest value chain. Given the complexity of forest ecosystems and their intricate and often unknown interactions with other environmental and socioeconomic systems, the scope of this study was limited to two chief areas: the supply of wood and its derivatives, and aspects related to European forests and European markets. Because of these necessary limitations, a multitude of other essential ecosystem services that forests provide are omitted, such as non-timber forest products, carbon sequestration and other regulating services, recreation and other cultural services, and biodiversity conservation and other supportive services. Moreover, the study barely touches on aspects related to wood imports and exports, the dynamics of which are of great relevance to this topic and could therefore be the focus of a new follow-up study, or the main aim of a broader examination of the topic.