Holmen’s forestry is certified to the PEFC and FSC® standards (FSC_ID) and all the wood is fully traceable.
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Pineplants
Wood for sustainability and the climate
Wood is a naturally renewable and energy-efficient raw material. Holmen’s wood products come from sustainably managed forests and are refined in our chain-of-custody certified sawmills.
Wood builds a sustainable future
Wood is the only construction material that is 100% renewable. Since wood products have the capacity to store carbon dioxide for a long time, wooden buildings are significantly better for the climate than those built using fossil-based materials and processes. Producing steel and concrete creates considerable emissions of fossil carbon that affect the climate.
Using wood contributes to sustainable development. Replacing fossil materials with renewable structural components in wood creates climate benefits on many fronts. Emissions of greenhouse gases from manufacturing and using climate-negative materials are avoided, while increased use of products from the forest captures more carbon dioxide. In addition, the whole chain from manufacture to transport is much more energy-efficient and cost-effective.
Why wood is a good building material
- The use of wood contributes to a sustainable society.
- Wood is a 100 percent renewable raw material.
- Wooden houses have an average lifespan of one hundred years.
- Wood construction is cost-effective and offers the sustainable housing of the future.
- Wood products can advantageously replace fossil materials such as steel and concrete. The so-called substitution effect results in reduced carbon dioxide emissions.
- Wood has good thermal insulating properties, is lightweight and stores carbon dioxide for a long time.
In addition: For every tree Holmen harvests, two new ones are planted!
Biocombinate
Holmen's production facilities are biocombined. A combined means that an industry produces several different products from the same raw material. Holmen's sawmill and paper mill in Braviken and the sawmill and paperboard mill in Iggesund are biocombined.
Here we produce several different bio-based and renewable products from the forest. The entire tree is taken care of. Planks and boards are sawn. Wood chips from the sawmill become raw material in pulp production at the paper mill and the board mill, respectively, and by-products such as bark and dry chips become biofuel that is converted into energy and district heating. The circle is closed when hot water from the paper mill and steam from the paperboard mill are used in the drying processes at the sawmills.
The sawmills in Braviken and Iggesund are thus part of a bio combination with Braviken's paper mill and Iggesund's paperboard mill respectively. The biocombines provide synergies that reduce the environmental impact. By-products such as bark and dry chips from the sawmills are used in the mills' solid fuel boilers, and fossil-free energy in the form of heat and steam is generated.
The sawmills buy heat from the mills for their drying process, and waste heat is used to heat production premises. Increased production with high raw material utilisation results in increased deliveries of renewable biofuel. Streamlining energy use reduces environmental impact.
How we manage the forest
Under Holmen’s active and sustainable forest management, the volume of standing timber is built up over a period of 70 to 90 years, with a new growth cycle beginning after harvest. Many of the most important silviculture measures come in the years after harvest, when the soil is prepared and the land is reforested through planting or sowing. We clean and thin the forest in order to select trees with the best potential for further growth.
Around 10–30 years before the forest is ready for harvesting, it may be fertilised to further enhance growth. The annual harvest equates to 80 per cent of the forest’s growth, which means that the amount of wood in our forests increases year on year. For every tree we harvest, we plant at least two new ones. Our forestry is certified to the PEFC and FSC® standards and all the wood is fully traceable.
Please read more about our sustainable forest management.
We use all harvested raw material
Our wood products value chain runs all the way from tiny seed to finished timber building. Our high-tech sawmills use the entire log. Nothing goes to waste.
- The rough logs that make up approximately 50 per cent of the harvest go to sawmills, where they become building materials in the form of construction timber and joinery products.
- The thinner parts of the tree, approximately 45 per cent, and wood from thinning are ground or boiled down into pulp that then becomes paper or paperboard.
- The last 5 per cent, which is made up of branches, tops, bark and wood shavings, becomes renewable bioenergy.
