International Wood BioEconomy Forum is back

 Monday, January 30, 2023

The International Wood BioEconomy Forum (WBE), which will take place in Rosenheim from February 15 to 16, 2023, brings the industry together yet again. This new congress is slated to discuss the increasingly widespread usage of wood and provide a comprehensive overview to all parties concerned. A key component of social development toward a sustainable manner of conducting business and living is the bioeconomy.

The achievement of long-term independence from fossil raw materials is the stated objective. There is an ever-growing market for wood and the products manufactured from it. New wood-based goods are being produced in addition to classic wood products, such as sawn timber and wood-based polymers (e.g. platform chemicals, textiles, energy storage). The wood-based BioEconomy is also an integral cornerstone of raw material and climate change. In the coming decades, the greatest growth can be expected worldwide in the associated economic sectors.

Status quo and prospects for the future
“Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. Global temperatures continue to rise. And our planet is rapidly approaching tipping points that will trigger irreversible climate chaos. We are on a highway to climate hell – with our foot on the accelerator.” This is how UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres drew the current situation in which we find ourselves at the beginning of the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27). Questions about how we will produce energy in the future and which materials can be used to meet the 1.5° degree target vehemently demand answers. A transformation of the economy and way of life is therefore inevitable. The move away from fossil resources and the use of biogenic resources in connection with climate-friendly manufacturing processes is part of the bioeconomy.

A key component of social development toward a sustainable economy and way of life is the bioeconomy. The achievement of long-term independence from fossil raw materials is the clear objective. The Agency for Renewable Resources’ analyses show that, excluding the paper industry, the forestry and timber sectors in Germany provided EUR 98.2 billion, or nearly half, of the bioeconomy’s overall turnover (reference year 2019). The forestry and timber sector’s contribution to the paper industry climbed to EUR 143.5 billion in 2019. As a result, one of the key cornerstones of Germany’s bioeconomy is the forestry and timber sector.

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