Green or Black Gold? Symbiosis of the Forest Industry and the Fossil Economy

Abstract

The forest industry is often presented as an alternative or even as an independent counterforce to the fossil industry: bio-based products substitute for fossil-based products and mitigate emissions. In Finland, the history of forest industry and forestry remains typically unconnected with fossil fuels and materials. Instead, Finnish society is seen as built upon the expansion of the forest sector, i.e., the proverbial ”wooden leg”. We question these perceptions through the symbiosis perspective: the modern forest sector is not separate from but symbiotic with the fossil economy. We first examine the environmental and economic history of the Finnish forest sector through the symbiosis perspective. We show that next to the wooden leg of Finland has stood an even sturdier ”fossil leg”. Secondly, we discuss the narrative of replacement that is used to justify current and future forest bioeconomy. We present a common critique of replacement, i.e., the scale problem: there are not enough sustainable (forest) biomasses to substitute for fossil materials, if the scale of the economy is not shrunk significantly. Furthermore, we show how replacement is made more difficult by the symbiosis of the forest industry and the fossil economy.