thank you for creating some more time for input into this discussion. I will react on one of your questions:
Should we have an indicator on wood energy? (It is not actually mentioned in the high level commitments. SDG 7.2.1 refers to renewable energy as whole.)
yes the SDG only looks at renewable energy as a whole, however wood is the most important renewable energy source world wide and its use is in many cases not sustainable (1/3 of world consumption).
I also agree with the previous comment that wood used for energy is one product and yes potentially, if we monitor the sustainability of the ressource we should cover it all. However wood energy consumption is highly influenced by renewable energy policies or the (non-)existence of bioenergy policies and this can increase or decrease the consumption accordingly. Decisions on how much wood for energy consumption will be needed depend highly on decisions made in the energy sector (if they are made or monitored). In many cases the question of demand and supply of energy wood is falling between the chairs, since the forestry sector only monitors the management of the ressource and the energy sector monitors how much energy is consumed from which source and what the emissions from its use are (and here often wood is considered as renewable, no matter whether it is harvested sustainably or not). There is often not much dialogue between the two sectors. Considering that 50% of wood harvested worldwide is used for energy (with a potential to increase, since the demand is projected by IEA to increase) an indicator that looks into a dialogue and matchmaking between the forest and the energy sector seems relevant to me. Especially since any decision made in the energy sector will have an effect on the availability of the resource or alternatively will have an effect on the profitability of producing energy wood/ using wood residues from sustainable management practices for energy. So potentially an indicator related to the availability of energy wood demand and supply would serve the purpose?
But maybe this is something that does not need to be monitored on the global level, but rather on the national level or incorporated in any forestry policy on the national/regional level.
thank you for posting the indicators and making this discussion open for a wider round. Please find attached some comments from GIZ colleagues working on forestry. We hope this can help in the process.
Sra. Cornelia Ehlers
Dear Mr. Prins,
thank you for creating some more time for input into this discussion. I will react on one of your questions:
Should we have an indicator on wood energy? (It is not actually mentioned in the high level commitments. SDG 7.2.1 refers to renewable energy as whole.)
yes the SDG only looks at renewable energy as a whole, however wood is the most important renewable energy source world wide and its use is in many cases not sustainable (1/3 of world consumption).
I also agree with the previous comment that wood used for energy is one product and yes potentially, if we monitor the sustainability of the ressource we should cover it all. However wood energy consumption is highly influenced by renewable energy policies or the (non-)existence of bioenergy policies and this can increase or decrease the consumption accordingly. Decisions on how much wood for energy consumption will be needed depend highly on decisions made in the energy sector (if they are made or monitored). In many cases the question of demand and supply of energy wood is falling between the chairs, since the forestry sector only monitors the management of the ressource and the energy sector monitors how much energy is consumed from which source and what the emissions from its use are (and here often wood is considered as renewable, no matter whether it is harvested sustainably or not). There is often not much dialogue between the two sectors. Considering that 50% of wood harvested worldwide is used for energy (with a potential to increase, since the demand is projected by IEA to increase) an indicator that looks into a dialogue and matchmaking between the forest and the energy sector seems relevant to me. Especially since any decision made in the energy sector will have an effect on the availability of the resource or alternatively will have an effect on the profitability of producing energy wood/ using wood residues from sustainable management practices for energy. So potentially an indicator related to the availability of energy wood demand and supply would serve the purpose?
But maybe this is something that does not need to be monitored on the global level, but rather on the national level or incorporated in any forestry policy on the national/regional level.
Best regards,
Conny Ehlers
Sra. Cornelia Ehlers
Dear Kit Prins,
thank you for posting the indicators and making this discussion open for a wider round. Please find attached some comments from GIZ colleagues working on forestry. We hope this can help in the process.
Best regards,
Evy von Pfeil, Nora Krieger and Cornelia Ehlers