The European Union (henceforth, EU) is now well on track to meet the 2020 targets for renewable energy production and consumption, and recently a new 2030 Framework for climate and energy has been proposed. The forest sector is supposed to make a significant contribution towards meeting green economy objectives. Moreover, it is of high interest to
analyze the potential impacts of EU’s renewable energy directive (RED 1 and the ongoing RED 2) on the forest sector in Europe and overseas.
In order to examine global challenges regarding energy, climate change, ecological impacts, technology developments and sustainable use of land and natural resources in the upcoming circular bioeconomy era (EEA 2018), improved analysis tools are required. The utilization of Forest Sector Models (henceforth, FSMs), linking forestry and forest industry activities, has been found useful for assessing the interplay between forest resources and forest commodity markets, accounting for competition and synergies between different uses of wood.
This thesis investigates the impacts of increased use of wood-based bioenergy on forest resources and markets of forest and wood products, and explores the strengths and weaknesses of FSMs
