The raw materials scoreboard is an initiative of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials. Its purpose is to provide quantitative data on the EIP’s general objectives and on the raw materials policy context. It presents information to be used in policymaking in a variety of areas, such as in monitoring the progress towards a circular economy, a crucial issue on which the European Commission recently adopted an ambitious action plan. The scoreboard will be published every two years.

Regarding the sustainable wood supply the scoreboard concludes that EU forests has been increasing over many decades. All Member States’ felling rates are below 100% of annual growth and most are below 85%. Overall, felling rates tend to range between 40% and 90%, with the average for the EU about 60%. Furthermore, over 90% of the raw wood processed into materials and products each year by EU forest-based industries comes from EU forests.

Moreover, it is stated that a sustainable supply of wood raw materials to competitive forest-based industries depends on healthy, dynamic and resilient forest eco-systems. The EU forests are all subject to sustainable forest management requirements to protect their ecological, social and economic functions. However, it is noted that wood demand from conventional forest-based industries and the rapidly growingly bioenergy and bio-based products sectors is set to grow significantly. Thus, greater efforts will be needed to ensure adequate, sustainable wood supplies from forests in EU and elsewhere.  

The Scoreboard can be downloaded here.