Abstract
Climate impacts of forest bioenergy result from a multitude of warming and cooling effects and vary
by location and technology. While past bioenergy studies have analysed a limited number of climatealtering
pollutants and activities, no studies have jointly addressed supply chain greenhouse gas
emissions, biogenic CO2 fluxes, aerosols and albedo changes at high spatial and process detail. Here,
we present a national-level climate impact analysis of stationary bioenergy systems in Norway based
on wood-burning stoves and wood biomass-based district heating. We find that cooling aerosols and
albedo offset 60–70% of total warming, leaving a net warming of 340 or 69 kg CO2e MWh−1 for stoves
or district heating, respectively. Large variations are observed over locations for albedo, and over
technology alternatives for aerosols. By demonstrating both notable magnitudes and complexities of
different climate warming and cooling effects of forest bioenergy in Norway, our study emphasizes the
need to consider multiple forcing agents in climate impact analysis of forest bioenergy.
by location and technology. While past bioenergy studies have analysed a limited number of climatealtering
pollutants and activities, no studies have jointly addressed supply chain greenhouse gas
emissions, biogenic CO2 fluxes, aerosols and albedo changes at high spatial and process detail. Here,
we present a national-level climate impact analysis of stationary bioenergy systems in Norway based
on wood-burning stoves and wood biomass-based district heating. We find that cooling aerosols and
albedo offset 60–70% of total warming, leaving a net warming of 340 or 69 kg CO2e MWh−1 for stoves
or district heating, respectively. Large variations are observed over locations for albedo, and over
technology alternatives for aerosols. By demonstrating both notable magnitudes and complexities of
different climate warming and cooling effects of forest bioenergy in Norway, our study emphasizes the
need to consider multiple forcing agents in climate impact analysis of forest bioenergy.
