David Hopkins, Chief Executive of Timber Development (TDUK), outlines the role timber can play in achieving a net-zero construction industry and the need for cross-sector collaboration to achieve tough environmental targets.
The built environment is currently responsible for nearly half of carbon emissions in the UK – accounting for many millions of tonnes of carbon emissions every year. Architects, engineers, urbanists, and all those who help shape our cities have a deep responsibility to minimise their carbon impact.
Amidst the climate crisis, timber offers a crucial route to decarbonising our built environment: it is a low-carbon, renewable material. This has been recognised independently by the likes of the United Nations, the European Union, the Royal Society, the World Wildlife Foundation, the UK Climate Change Committee and recently the Environmental Audit Committee.
A sustainable timber supply chain is a proven business model. It is supporting a new wave of ingenuity centred on whole-life carbon targets, circular economy principles and offsite-manufactured platform and modular solutions. We are already seeing the success of timber innovations such as cross laminated timber (CLT) in modular and offsite construction, where timber's versatility and environmental credentials are particularly well suited.
These can all help construction achieve its 2050 net zero targets. However, the large-scale adoption of renewable timber, and solutions such as offsite manufacturing, will require significant cultural change across the industry.
Carbon Culture Shift
At its heart, it is about a shift towards a culture which values carbon reduction, build quality, social value and circularity. This requires cross-industry investment and collaboration to unseat traditional building approaches, especially the adversarial attitude we often see when different elements of the sector vie for market share amidst shifting priorities.
We have seen several unhelpful examples of this recently. Carbonintensive industries are evidently worried about their future, as there have been recent attacks on engineered timber products such as CLT – seeking to cloak rhetoric in the guise of official-looking reports. This approach is counterproductive. In the timber industry, we do acknowledge that concrete, cement and steel are all important for construction – and are likely to remain so.
But with concrete the second most consumed material on the planet after water, responsible for at least 8% of global carbon emissions, we need to find ways to minimise its impact. This includes using less concrete and more low-carbon materials such as timber. That will hardly be music to the ears of some entrenched interests. But it does not need to be this way.
Climate change is too important. The resources of everyone in the construction industry, regardless of the flag we fly, must be put towards building a low-carbon future rather than seeking to discredit proven solutions. All parts of the construction industry should be supportive of new methods of offsite construction that can reduce our carbon footprint, and we should be equally supportive of materials and designs that reduce environmental impacts.
Collaboration is Key
TDUK is focusing on a collaborative approach. Timber has long been a fractured industry. Our supply chain consists of many thousands of businesses – big and small – which can make the kind of collective effort required to achieve net-zero targets quite difficult. But with the formation of TDUK, this will change. Merging TRADA and the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) to create the largest timber supply chain organisation means we can now tackle the challenges our industry faces.
One of the first big projects we're taking on is the creation of a Net Zero Carbon Roadmap for the timber industry. This will help modernise timber businesses and deliver on timber's potential as a genuinely low-carbon building material. We also want to usher in a circular economy, by helping the timber industry produce materials that last and can be reused once a building reaches the end of its life.
By helping the construction industry as a whole build a shared understanding, we can take these issues forward. This is why we are working with independent industry experts, to help upskill professionals on low-carbon resources and environmental issues. And we are supporting NMITE and Edinburgh Napier University on an educational programme to help support a new wave of design and engineering talents which understands how best to employ timber.
Finally, we have signed the Anti-Greenwashing Charter, committing our members to uphold good standards of responsible marketing practice. To truly achieve net zero across UK construction by 2050, we will need to be honest and transparent: we must speak the same language across the sector. The standards we adopt throughout our organisation will ensure green claims made about timber products and services are fair and substantiated.
It is more important than ever for all industries to collaborate in addressing the climate crisis. At TDUK, we will continue to support the construction sector to better measure and minimise carbon impacts. We see our work as complementary to industry commitments such as LETI's building targets, and regulatory proposals like Part Z. Change is coming, and we know the timber industry will be ready to play its part.
For more information visit: www.ttf.co.uk
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