Making buildings more sustainable with timber

As cities grow, so does the demand for new buildings. This has a significant, negative impact on the climate if we do not shift to more sustainable construction methods and materials. Timber lets us reduce the environmental footprint of construction and create safe, healthy and beautiful buildings for the future.

Buildings and construction account for 39 per cent of the world’s CO₂ emissions. Traditionally, with the largest part of the energy consumption being used for the operation of buildings. But as national authorities have imposed higher and stricter requirements for how to heat and insulate our buildings, the scenario has changed.

Today, many buildings use more energy during the first year of their lifetime than the following 80 years, meaning that more than half of a building’s energy consumption is used for construction. To fight climate change and create more liveable cities, we must continue to optimise energy usage of existing buildings. However, as the world’s building stock is set to double by 2060, we also need to reduce the climate footprint of construction and materials.

With timber, we can come a long way. A material that we have built with for thousands of years. And now the industry is ready to take the next jump thanks to technological developments and a growing demand for sustainable buildings. 

A RENEWABLE RESOURCE GROWING ON SOLAR ENERGY

Studies show we can reduce CO₂ emissions from the construction of buildings by 30 to 70 per cent by using timber instead of conventional building materials. And every time 1 m³ of timber is used instead of 1 m³ of concrete, we save one tonne of CO₂, which is equivalent to 400 litres of petrol or diesel not being burned.

Timber is a renewable resource that grows on solar energy while capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere. All things being equal, timber production and manufacturing have a low energy consumption. And when sourced from certified, sustainable forestry, timber production protects biodiversity and forest growth.

The largest part of building materials is used for load-bearing structures. Therefore, replacing conventional building materials with timber for this purpose results in the biggest environmental benefits and CO₂ reductions. And this is possible since timber is both a durable and long-lasting material.

That way, timber is one of the keys to making construction greener. However, to fully realise its potential, it is necessary to always evaluate the climate footprint of buildings through life cycle assessments (LCA). And to enhance the reuse of timber materials by focusing on flexible and design-for-disassembly solutions.