Wood is a renewable resource that can be used for a large number of applications ranging from material to chemical to energy applications. In the past, wood resources have been underused in Switzerland, but this is changing rapidly with the demand for more environmentally sustainable products and energy. It is therefore crucial to use the available wood resources in an ecologically optimal way. With this last forum in 2015, we intend to provide to the participants a new perspective on the issue of the ecological use of wood resources and its relevance from various viewpoints of e.g. scientists, of policy makers as well as of practitioners. The forum starts in its first part with a description of the most recent developments in the area of life cycle inventory modelling, followed by an overview of the latest advances in carbon accounting as well as impact assessment. After this update on methodological issues, a broad part of the day will be dealing with various aspects of the application of wood – from the use as construction material to an energetic use – and the related environmental consequences. In the afternoon we will take a systemic perspective looking on an optimisation of the wood management. For closure, a panel discussion will look at the open issues that research has to deal with in order to further enhance an environmentally optimal use of wood resources.