Ökologische Potenziale durch Holznutzung gezielt fördern

Current ecological assessments of products are usually carried out for single products, enabling distinct statements for product improvement to be made as well as a comparison of different options. Product-specific analyses lack a broader view about their relevance from a societal or market perspective. To achieve the highest possible ecological benefit in a whole market segment, a wider appreciation of the entire product market is necessary. - "As a contribution to ecological forestry, to the forest-timber value cham and products and their production systems, the objective of the federal ministry of education and research (BMBF) is to foster transdisciplinary research, technological developments and innovations. The aim of the promotion is to strengthen the national and international competitiveness of the forest-timber sector. Beyond this it aims at contributing to the national sustainability strategy as well as to the wood charter of the federal government" /89/. - The "product-related ecological potential analysis", which was developed within the OekoPot project, focuses on the identification of ecological potentials and environmental effects of shifts in the market. The method represents a new approach to the eco-efficiency concept, scientifically combining LCA with market analysis. The procedure identifies the most relevant products and their principle competitors in combination with market shares and the product group's market volume. Technical and economical criteria lead to pre-selection. Together with information from the market analysis, the ecological performance of the whole market segment can be assessed. This new approach is applied exemplarily for wood products within the OekoPot-Project, which is funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), aims to promote the environmentally friendly use of timber products through an analysis of the ecological potentials of the timber and wood value cham. Thus, a scientifically sound method and information on the ecological benefits and improvement of wood products is provided.