STFI-Packforsk is contributing to development and design of tools for sustainable impact assessment in Eforwood

Eforwood is a four year EU Integrated project. The project will provide interested parties and decision makers with tools to give guidance on how to safeguard forest resources for sustainable development in the best possible way. Eforwood commenced in November, 2005. Thirty-eight organisations from twenty-one countries are taking part in the project, which is coordinated by Professor Kaj Rosén at Skogforsk.

 

Innventia is playing the role of a leading partner in the project that has € 20m at its disposal (c.c. SEK 190m) during the 4 year period of the project. The EU Commission is contributing € 13m (c.c. SEK 125m).

 

The platform for Innventia leading role, is the broad scope of the organisation, covering most parts of the value chains for paper based products and packaging. Previous research work at Innventia encompasses cross-boundary studies regarding the consequences of different choices when it comes to materials, processes and sustainability in a value chain context.

 

The nucleus of Eforwood is the development of a tool for evaluating sustainability. Apart from this part (Module 1 – M1), Eforwood is divided up into a further 6 parts or modules, viz. Forestry (M2), Forest to Industry (M3), Industrial Processes (M4), From Industry to Consumers (M5), Transfer of Knowledge (M6) and project co-ordination (M0). STFI-Packforsk has key duties in M5, M4 and M3. In M5, Carl Olsmats has the task of co-ordinator. In M4, Anna von Schenck is the co-ordinator for contributions by STFI-Packforsk, while Sven-Olof Lundqvist has the same duty in M3.

 

One of the main tasks in the project is to collect and structure data for a number of cases with the ultimate goal to have a model filled with data covering the whole EU-27 Forestry Wood Chain (EU-25 plus Norway and Switzerland). Much of Eforwood concerns building up a network and ensuring that all the knowledge is put into a context.

 

A main task for researchers in early phases is to select financial, social and environmental sustainability indicators. There are many aspects to take into consideration, the conservation of species in the forest, energy consumption, the carbon balance and employment creation, to give some examples.