Pushing Timber To The Frontline

Sarah Virgo, Campaign Manager at Wood for Good, sees timber going from strength-to-strength post-COP26 and throughout 2022.

2021 felt like a page-turning moment for the timber industry, as forestry and timber finally began to receive recognition for their role in helping decarbonise the built environment and move us towards net zero.

From cross-sector campaigns calling for stronger action on reducing embodied carbon emissions, to specific recommendations that encouraged greater use of timber from the Climate Change Committee, timber is now being acknowledged as a low-carbon material.

In case you missed it, during the two weeks of COP26 in Glasgow, Wood for Good sponsored an action-packed day conference at the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) in South Lanarkshire. It was the perfect way to kick off COP26 and featured a range of engaging speakers on forestry and timber construction. It was important to us that the link between the built environment and forestry was made clear. In the setting of the CSIC, alongside a number of impressive timber building demonstrators, it felt fitting to hear from Scott Francisco of Cities4Forests together with Confor's Deputy CEO and Wood for Good Board member, Andy Leitch, about how we can and should bring forestry into our discussions about using more timber as a material.

In addition to hosting several wonderful events, the CSIC itself was a brilliant and thought-provoking space – if you ever have the chance to visit it in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, grasp that opportunity with both hands! Situated in one of the fringe event areas – the Sustainable Landing Hub – was the COP26 House. This house, designed by Roderick James Architects comes from the Beyond Zero Homes team – a consortium of over 20 different organisations. The house was made entirely from Scottish grown timber, and on practical completion accounted for around 24,000 kg of embodied carbon, while storing more than double that at around 53,000 kg of biogenic carbon.

In 2022, Wood for Good is continuing to build on the momentum and positive energy that we witnessed in 2021, particularly at COP26. As the UK timber industry's leading carbon messaging campaign, our aim is to keep people talking about timber as the solution to reducing embodied carbon emissions.

Thanks to the success of the Wood CO2ts less and Time for Timber campaigns, many are already talking about the role timber can play in reducing our embodied carbon emissions. This is now trickling into UK policy decisions: in January this year, the APPG for the Timber Industries Chair, David Warburton MP called for greater use of timber for tackling embodied carbon in the built environment.

What can you expect from Wood for Good in 2022?

We've been working on creating new, updated versions of some of our most popular and effective assets to keep them current and engaging for our audiences. We'll be rolling these out throughout the year, giving our supporters access to download and use them in their own promotional work. Including animated videos and new infographics, the aim of them is to continue spreading the message of Wood CO2ts less, while emphasising the relationship between sustainable forestry and timber in construction.

In the architecture and construction worlds, conversation is moving on from discussions about embodied carbon in buildings to circularity. To ensure that we are keeping wood at the forefront of conversations, going forward, we will be promoting timber's inherent circular properties even more.

In collaboration with others, work is underway to review the currency of the Wood for Good Lifecycle Database and identify if, and where, improvements can be made to improve its usability and applicability. We expect to finish this in the first half of 2022. The updated environmental product declarations (EPDs) can be used by specifiers and designers to create lifecycle analyses of their projects and demonstrate the embodied carbon benefits of using timber.

TIMBER HOLDS THE KEY TO TAKE ON EMBODIED CARBON IN 2022

Embodied carbon emissions from the built environment must be tackled now if we are to meet our climate change ambitions, says David Warburton, MP for Somerton and Frome, and chair of the APPG for the Timber Industries.

"With the COP26 summit, the Net-Zero Strategy and England Trees Action Plan all coming together, 2021 must be seized upon as a pivotal year in our mission to decarbonise the UK in the context of a commitment to slash emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

"Over the past three decades our carbon emissions have nearly halved. This reduction has come from change in just three areas: (1) a switch away from coal (2) cleaner industry shifting away from carbon-intensive manufacturing and (3) a smaller and cleaner fossil fuel supply industry.

"While operational carbon has been regulated with increasing strength, including the incoming Future Homes Standard, embodied carbon emissions have escaped the attention of regulators. Embodied carbon emissions can account for up to 75% of a building's lifetime greenhouse gas emissions and are responsible for over 10% of our national emissions. Addressing these emissions is essential if we are to build back greener and achieve net-zero by 2050." (A ten-minute rule motion on the regulation of embodied carbon emissions in the UK was put forward by Duncan Baker MP on 2 February 2022.)

"This motion aims to ensure that whole-life carbon emissions are reported upon construction and that legal limits are in place to ensure embodied emissions are reduced, following on from a campaign by the construction industry for the inclusion of a 'Part Z' in building regulations.

"It is why I will be watching with close interest the conclusions of the Environmental Audit Committee as they investigate the sustainability of the built environment, with this cross-party inquiry pivotal in scrutinising and shaping government policy on built environment emissions. It is why I will be calling for greater action on increasing the use of wood in construction in the UK. Today, we have an existing technology to help reduce our carbon emissions right now, particularly in our newbuild housing with the greater use of timber frame. Using more timber in construction is essential if we are to reduce embodied emissions as it displaces carbon-intensive materials, and acts as a form of carbon capture and storage, with nearly a tonne of CO2 sequestered for every cubic metre of timber used.

"The role of timber has been recognised repeatedly by the Climate Change Committee, and now by the Government within the Net Zero Strategy and England Trees Action Plan. This promises to be an exciting year for creating a more sustainable, safer, and healthier built environment."