The wood market balance as a tool for calculating wood use's climate change mitigation effect — An example for Germany

•Wood market balances are tools for carbon balancing.•Creation of a wood carbon balance•Calculating the climate change mitigation effect of wood use•The German wood use C-effect (2010): approx. 90 Mio. t CO2•Overall C-effect of the German forest-based sector (2010): approx. 140 Mio. t CO2

A wood balance provides information on timber markets at a highly aggregated level. The wood market balance that reflects wood use at the place of consumption can serve as a tool for creating a wood carbon balance. The article shows how a wood market balance can be applied to determine the climate change mitigation effect of wood use. Together with inventory data on forest development, a wood market balance can be used to determine the forest-based sector's contribution to climate change mitigation at various levels (national or regional). The methods and results are shown for Germany and the year 2010.