Hafsrød won climate award
Together with Indre Østfold municipality, Hafsrød took home the victory at this year’s award of the Klima Østfold prize.
Hafsrød was lucky to be nominated for this year’s Klima Østfold award! Halden municipality was responsible for the nomination, and the reasons for the nomination were as follows:
Forestry is an industry that has a long perspective - investments made today will give a return in 70-80 years. With the current focus on climate change and national targets for sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, forests are often seen as natural processes that bind CO2 regardless of what the landowner does. The reason why we now want to nominate a large forest owner in the municipality for the climate award is to show that long-term management of forests is important in relation to building up raw materials for the wood processing industry and for sequestering carbon dioxide in biomass, both above and below ground.
Hafsrød farm consists of 35.500 daa, of which 26.343 daa is productive forest land, and is thus one of the largest forest properties in Østfold. Over the last 20 years, standing volume in the forest has increased by 50%, which corresponds to a binding of 273.761 tonnes of CO2 equivalents, and then the build-up of biomass underground is not included (27%). In the same period, approximately 45.000 m3 have been felled, with 40-50% ending up as timber in permanent constructions. In 2018, 23.153 tonnes of CO2 equivalents will be bound annually in the forest on the property. In comparison, the total emissions in Halden are 84.212 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. This shows how great potential there is in tending the forest well over a long period of time. The owners of Hafsrød gård started the work of caring for the forest early, and if we are to be able to meet the goals of a 60% cut by 2050, we are dependent on more people managing the forest so that we can quickly build up CO2 reserves in forests in anticipation of alternative energy solutions.
We therefore want to promote a farm where, through several generations, significant resources have been invested to build up the forest and thereby bind CO2. If we manage to bring out more active forest owners and increase efforts in the forests, it will be crucial for whether we succeed in creating the zero-emission society sometime in the future.
Hafsrød’s forestry plan from 1927 gives us an overview of volume, tree species and other data on the forest. It shows a standing volume of timber at that time corresponding to approx. 17% of what is stated as the volume today. Today, there are approximately 420,000 m3 of timber, which corresponds to approx. 800,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. This also considering that we harvest from the forest every year. Since we do not harvest more than the forest grows, at the same time as we plant after we have cut down, the forest can continue to bind large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
The increase in the amount of timber from 1927-2018 almost corresponds to the material need to build 10,000 houses. Think about that! In the same period, approx. 200,000 m3 of timber was felled.
We thank Klima Østfold for the good efforts they make to put climate on the agenda, and for the award we recieved in 2022!
ingeborg
19 April 2024
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