Sweden is upgrading its military and civilian defences. The forest industry plays a key role in these efforts, not least by continuing to produce essential everyday products and thereby also promote the trade balance. Our domestic raw materials ensure independence.
The Swedish forest industry plays a crucial role in Swedish and European resilience and readiness. Here are a few examples:
- With domestic raw materials and domestic production facilities, we can guarantee the supply of construction materials, packaging, hygiene products, biofuels and many other everyday essentials.
- By maintaining large-scale exports we can guarantee the continued inflow of capital into the country, which helps finance the public sector – including defence.
- When forest industry production is running, it heats hundreds of thousands of homes, buildings and industries throughout Sweden. The forest industry’s residual streams of biofuels and waste heat are a major contributor to the country’s exceptional district heating network.
- Sweden’s forest owners currently maintain 200,000 kilometres of forest roads throughout the country. These roads often extend through areas where no other roads exist and can be used by the military and civilians, in times of war and peace.
- A great amount of forest machinery is used throughout Sweden by well-trained operators. While their main task is supplying the industry with timber, they can also be employed by the military for tasks such as clearing power lines in the event the electricity grid is knocked out. As a result of the extensive forest fires of 2014 and 2018, there is greater expertise, collaboration and preparedness for managing large-scale fires.
