Questions and Answers: Carbon Costs of Global Wood Harvests

This fact sheet summarizes a Nature paper by World Resources Institute (WRI) researchers regarding the carbon costs of global wood harvests. The analysis finds that wood harvests significantly increase atmospheric carbon, contributing annual emissions that exceed 10% of recent human annual carbon dioxide emissions. The document critiques 'netting' approaches in prior research that treat wood harvests as carbon neutral by offsetting them against general forest growth, arguing that such growth would occur regardless of harvesting.

• Global wood consumption is projected to increase by 54% between 2010 and 2050, with specific growth rates of 70% for timber products, 130% for paper and cardboard, and 20% for wood fuel.
• Wood harvests over the 40-year period from 2010 to 2050 are estimated to cover an area equivalent to 756-855 million hectares of clear-cuts, an area roughly the size of the Continental U.S.
• Annual emissions from wood harvests are estimated at 3.5 to 4.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is more than three times the emissions from aviation and exceeds 10% of recent annual human carbon dioxide emissions.
• The authors argue that prior studies have underestimated carbon costs by using 'netting' approaches that offset harvest emissions against the growth of other forest areas, incorrectly treating harvests as carbon neutral.
• Annual emissions from wood harvests are projected to potentially reach 5 billion tons of CO2e per year by 2050, a factor the document states has not been included in climate projections.
• Potential mitigation strategies to reduce annual emissions include reducing fuelwood use by 50% from 2050 projected levels (saving 500 million tons/year), increasing plantation growth rates by 50% (saving 600 million tons/year), and reducing the killing of small trees during tropical forest harvests (saving 200 million tons/year).
• Using timber instead of concrete and steel in construction is estimated to save an average of approximately 0.9 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year over the next 40 years in terms of production emissions.

APA

Peng, L., Searchinger, T., Zionts, J., & Waite, R. (2023). Questions and Answers: Carbon Costs of Global Wood Harvests. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-07/carbon-costs-global-wood-harvests-faq_0.pdf

Chicago

Peng, Liqing, Timothy Searchinger, Jessica Zionts, and Richard Waite. Questions and Answers: Carbon Costs of Global Wood Harvests. World Resources Institute, 2023. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-07/carbon-costs-global-wood-harvests-faq_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Peng |first1=Liqing |last2=Searchinger |first2=Timothy |last3=Zionts |first3=Jessica |last4=Waite |first4=Richard |title=Questions and Answers: Carbon Costs of Global Wood Harvests |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=5 July 2023 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-07/carbon-costs-global-wood-harvests-faq_0.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peng2023questions, author = {Peng, Liqing and Searchinger, Timothy and Zionts, Jessica and Waite, Richard}, title = {{Questions and Answers: Carbon Costs of Global Wood Harvests}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-07/carbon-costs-global-wood-harvests-faq_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }