PEFC webinar "Forest for sustainable cities"

18. juni 2021 News

Wood, as a natural, climate-friendly and renewable materiel, has the potential to change the way we build and create better buildings for a sustainable future. This might be major takeaway from the webinar hosted by PEFC in the Nordic countries 16. July 2021 attended by city planners, architects, developers and many more.

From Susanne Rydenstam in Sweden, we learned that wood can be used in many ways in residential, commercial and public projects and that wood industry is moving rapidly from product to process orientation, creating a new business logic with potential to increase productivity significantly in construction sector.

Anri Linden from Finland talked about the goal of Helsinki city being carbon neutral by 2035 helped by an action plan putting wood as crucial tool in detail planning of building projects. She also pointed out that use of wood provides flexibility and unlocks opportunities as wood comes with greater acceptance from neighbours in infill projects.

Christian Hvass and Jørgen Tycho in Norway viewed cities as carbon storage units and presented Valle Wood case, the wooden centrepiece in a commercial project in Oslo. They emphasized need for collaboration and more time for planning when building with wood, but the valuable upside is quicker construction, healthier workplace and less waste.

Martin Maribo from Denmark said that focus is shifting from energy to materials for reducing climate impact as Danish government setting absolute thresholds for CO2 emissions in big buildings, adding that forest certification schemes like PEFC is making it much easier to demonstrate sustainability in construction.