Required displacement factors for evaluating and comparing climate impacts of intensive and extensive forestry in Germany

摘要: BackgroundForestry plays a major role in climate change mitigation. However, which intensity of logging is best suited for that task, remains controversial. We contribute to the debate by quantitatively analyzing two different forest management scenarios in Germany, an intensive and an extensive one. We assess whether increased carbon storage in wood products and substitution of other emission-intensive materials can offset reduced carbon stocks in the forest due to increased harvesting. For that, we calculate annual Required Displacement Factors (RDF)-a dimensionless quantity that indicates the minimal Displacement Factor (DF) so that intensive forestry outperforms extensive forestry from a climate perspective.