Carbon storage in HWP. Accounting for Spanish particleboard and fiberboard

Aim of study: The study quantifies carbon stock in particleboard and fibreboard, for the period 1990-2006. It is the first accounting made for the Spanish wood industry using industrial accurate data and it could be comparable to other European studies.Area of study: SpainMaterial and Methods: A comparison of the three different approaches (Stock Change Approach, Production Approach, Atmospheric Flow Approach) of the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas (GHG). Due to the complexity derived from the amount of input variables and the recurrence of the formulas, the Montecarlo simulation method was chosen to compare results.Main results: Between 1990-2006 the carbon stock of the Spanish panel industry has been growing steadily, reaching around 1,000 Gg C in all three approaches studied. During the period 1990-2002, the Stock Change Approach is the one which provides a higher carbon stock accounting. However, since 2002 the Production Approach is the one which presents higher values of carbon stock.Research highlights: The main result of the study shows the important role of carbon stock which play the Spanish wood based panel industry during the period analysed. The results highlight the economic and environmental importance of carbon stock stored in such wood products, as well as its remarkable increase during the study period. They also highlights the importance of good practices such as cascade use of wood resources as well as the need for properly coordination between climate change and forest policies.Key words: climate change; emissions trading system; national greenhouse gas inventories; approach; Monte Carlo; recycled wood; cascade use.