The canton of Zurich already burns more wood than it can sustainably harvest

An August 2023 study has revealed that not only is demand for energy wood greater than the amount of wood harvested in the canton of Zurich, but that the wood required to power the additional planned biomass plants exceeds the estimated exploitable wood potential. 

As recently as 20 years ago, only about half the canton’s energy wood potential was being exploited. Today, the canton is having to import wood from elsewhere.  

Wood is also being harvested faster than it is growing back. This is obviously not sustainable and contravenes both the Forest Act (ForA; SR 921.0) which stipulates that the forest is to be conserved in its area and spatial distributionand emphasises the need for sustainable managementto ensure that Swiss forests fulfil their protective, social and economic functions. The latter stipulation is reiterated in the Forest Ordinance (ForO, SR 921.01).

In 2022, according to Swiss Federal Office for Energy (SFOE) data, the canton of Zurich had the second highest concentration of biomass-powered plants (12.9%) after Bern (19.6%) and the second highest output in term of pellet-firing systems (63 MW), again after Bern (66 MW). It also recorded the largest increase in automated systems of >50 kW of any canton (150), ahead of runner up Lucern (82) and the second highest wood turnover (872 GWh), after Bern (1,096 GWh).

As if this was not enough, many more biomass-fired plants are planned not just in the canton of Zurich, but across Switzerland.

Health and Forest demands that Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) be imperatively carried out ahead of all new planned biomass burning plants and that all subsidies for wood burning be stopped. 

March 2025