Europe can write all the strategies it wants\u2014but without wood, the bioeconomy does not happen.<\/p>\n
That is the message Nordic forest bosses are now delivering with increasing impatience.<\/p>\n
In a coordinated push, Ulf Larsson<\/strong>, CEO of SCA<\/strong>, and Henrik Sj\u00f6lund<\/strong>, CEO of Holmen<\/strong>, are stepping into the EU debate with unusual directness. Their warning is simple and uncomfortable: Europe is trying to scale a bio-based economy while simultaneously tightening access to the very resource it depends on.<\/p>\n In other words\u2014demand is being encouraged, supply is being constrained.<\/p>\n Larsson goes even further on the domestic front in Sweden, framing the issue not just as industrial policy, but as economic survival. In a world reshaped by geopolitical shocks and supply chain risks, he argues, competitiveness, self-sufficiency and resource utilisation define national strength.<\/p>\n Forestry, in that logic, is not a legacy sector\u2014it is strategic infrastructure.<\/p>\n And the numbers back the claim. Sweden\u2019s forest industry accounts for roughly 12% of goods exports, generating around SEK 185 billion annually and supporting about 140,000 direct jobs. Factor in the wider economy, and the footprint expands quickly. Across the Nordics, giants like SCA<\/strong>, Holmen<\/strong>, Stora Enso<\/strong>, UPM-Kymmene<\/strong> and Mets\u00e4 Group<\/strong> form the backbone of Europe\u2019s renewable materials supply chain.<\/p>\n Yet policy is moving in a different direction.<\/p>\n Brussels is doubling down on the bioeconomy\u2014pushing wood into construction, fibre into packaging, and biomass into energy and fuels. At the same time, new layers of regulation around biodiversity, conservation and forest use are tightening the operating space for the sector.<\/p>\n For the market, this is where things get interesting.<\/p>\n Because the story is no longer just about growth\u2014it is about constraint.<\/p>\n If demand for wood-based products accelerates\u2014as policy clearly intends\u2014while harvesting and forest utilisation face increasing limits, the result is a structural squeeze. More pressure on fibre, higher competition across end uses, and ultimately tighter margins along the value chain.<\/p>\n The Nordic CEOs are effectively drawing a line: Europe cannot have a scaled bioeconomy without scaling supply.<\/p>\n Larsson\u2019s argument is particularly explicit. Increasing forest growth could unlock massive long-term value\u2014hundreds of billions of kronor, tens of thousands of jobs, and significantly higher carbon absorption. Swedish forests already act as a net carbon sink. The question is whether policy will allow that capacity to be used, or increasingly locked away.<\/p>\n Since 2022, this debate has shifted tone. What used to be framed as sustainability is now increasingly framed as realpolitik<\/strong>\u2014about control over resources, industrial capacity and economic resilience.<\/p>\n And that is where the Nordic forest bosses are pressing hardest.<\/p>\n If Europe wants wood to replace steel, plastic and fossil fuels, it will have to decide one thing: whether forests are a resource to be used\u2014or a constraint to be managed. Because trying to do both at the same time is starting to look like a market contradiction.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Europe can write all the strategies it wants\u2014but without wood, the bioeconomy does not happen. That is the message Nordic forest bosses are now delivering with increasing impatience. In a coordinated push, Ulf Larsson, CEO of SCA, and Henrik Sj\u00f6lund, … Continue reading