Establishment needs for short rotation forestry in the EU to meet the goals of the commission’s White Paper on renewable energy (November 1997)

A quantitative analysis is given of the consequences of the recent EU White Paper on a strategy for renewable energy sources, by matching the woody biomass demand and supply by the forest industries and the energy sector in Europe in 2010, following the 5th European Timber Trends Study approach. An annual shortage of 229 million m3 of roundwood equivalents has been identified, which can be supplemented by the establishment of 11.5 million hectares of short rotation forestry systems. However, if 50% of available agricultural residues in Europe (such as straw) were used for bio-energy purposes, then the additional biomass needs are reduced to 101 million m3 of roundwood equivalents per annum, requiring the establishment of 5.1 million ha of dedicated energy crops.