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Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review

Author

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  • Kamalakanta Sahoo

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA
    Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

  • Richard Bergman

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Hongmei Gu

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

  • Shaobo Liang

    (Forest Products Laboratory, United States Forest Service, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53726, USA)

Abstract

Climate change, environmental degradation, and limited resources are motivations for sustainable forest management. Forests, the most abundant renewable resource on earth, used to make a wide variety of forest-based products for human consumption. To provide a scientific measure of a product’s sustainability and environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. This article provides a comprehensive review of environmental performances of forest-based products including traditional building products, emerging (mass-timber) building products and nanomaterials using attributional LCA. Across the supply chain, the product manufacturing life-cycle stage tends to have the largest environmental impacts. However, forest management activities and logistics tend to have the greatest economic impact. In addition, environmental trade-offs exist when regulating emissions as indicated by the latest traditional wood building product LCAs. Interpretation of these LCA results can guide new product development using biomaterials, future (mass) building systems and policy-making on mitigating climate change. Key challenges include handling of uncertainties in the supply chain and complex interactions of environment, material conversion, resource use for product production and quantifying the emissions released.

Suggested Citation

  • Kamalakanta Sahoo & Richard Bergman & Sevda Alanya-Rosenbaum & Hongmei Gu & Shaobo Liang, 2019. "Life Cycle Assessment of Forest-Based Products: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-30, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4722-:d:262241
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Mariana Hassegawa & Jo Van Brusselen & Mathias Cramm & Pieter Johannes Verkerk, 2022. "Wood-Based Products in the Circular Bioeconomy: Status and Opportunities towards Environmental Sustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Mousavi-Avval, Seyed Hashem & Sahoo, Kamalakanta & Nepal, Prakash & Runge, Troy & Bergman, Richard, 2023. "Environmental impacts and techno-economic assessments of biobased products: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
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    5. Xuyao Zhang & Weimin Zhang & Dayu Xu, 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment of Complex Forestry Enterprise: A Case Study of a Forest–Fiberboard Integrated Enterprise," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Katsuyuki Nakano & Masahiko Karube & Nobuaki Hattori, 2020. "Environmental Impacts of Building Construction Using Cross-laminated Timber Panel Construction Method: A Case of the Research Building in Kyushu, Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Eskil Mattsson & Martin Erlandsson & Per Erik Karlsson & Hampus Holmström, 2022. "A Conceptual Landscape-Level Approach to Assess the Impacts of Forestry on Biodiversity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, April.
    8. Maria Lanfredi & Rosa Coluzzi & Vito Imbrenda & Bogdana Nosova & Massimiliano Giacalone & Rosario Turco & Marcela Prokopovà & Luca Salvati, 2023. "In-between Environmental Sustainability and Economic Viability: An Analysis of the State, Regulations, and Future of Italian Forestry Sector," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-21, May.
    9. Shanshan Wang & Jiaxin Chen & Michael T. Ter‐Mikaelian & Annie Levasseur & Hongqiang Yang, 2022. "From carbon neutral to climate neutral: Dynamic life cycle assessment for wood‐based panels produced in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1437-1449, August.
    10. Vito Imbrenda & Rosa Coluzzi & Francesca Mariani & Bogdana Nosova & Eva Cudlinova & Rosanna Salvia & Giovanni Quaranta & Luca Salvati & Maria Lanfredi, 2023. "Working in (Slow) Progress: Socio-Environmental and Economic Dynamics in the Forestry Sector and the Contribution to Sustainable Development in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-21, June.

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