Does Wood Bioenergy Increase Carbon Stocks in Forests?

Wood bioenergy is touted as carbon neutral because biological regrowth recaptures the carbon released in energy production. However, some argue that using wood as an energy feedstock will result in decreased forest stocks and thereby a net reduction of carbon sequestered by forests. Such arguments fail to recognize that increased demand for wood bioenergy could increase stocks of wood, a renewable resource. We address the carbon neutrality question using a dynamic optimization forest management model to examine the effect of increasing or decreasing wood bioenergy demand on an existing forest, both in the amount of carbon lost by harvests and in that captured by forest management adjustments that change forest stocks under various wood demand and land supply scenarios. The results suggest for a managed regulated forest using foresight, an anticipated substantial increase in future wood biomass demand will not reduce forest and forest carbon stocks, but rather will increase the forest and forest carbon, thus being somewhat self-regulating.