Whilst it's no secret that the building industry is one of the biggest emitters concerning CO2 emissions, it's also no secret that the building industry requires the urgent upscaling and increased market availability of material alternatives. It's true, there are a number of fantastic material innovations out there, yet it is critical to understand what we have available on the market today.
Timber is considered by many to be one of the most promising alternatives to be implemented at scale for both load-bearing and non-load bearing purposes. As we discussed in Fighting Monocultures: Should Fast-growing Biogenic Materials Replace Timber? timber may have its benefits (such as versatility, strength, and its ability to sequester carbon) yet the adequate conditions necessary to sustain growth and simultaneously match product demand are becoming increasingly difficult to meet.
There are limited forests from which to source timber from in Europe, and as module A4 (Transportation to site) is gradually introduced in legislative requirements, the source location of timber will become increasingly important. An easy choice perhaps for certain parts of the world where forests are abundant (like Finland and Sweden) but not the one-size-fit-all solution we so desperately want it to be.