Calculating the national GHG balance of building with wood

Thursday, 22.09.2022, 13:30 - 15:00

Building with wood has advanced to one of the key targets in combating climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the construction sector in various countries. But to consistently assess the environmental performance of buildings and quantify the overall GHG emissions associated with building with wood and also estimate the influence of a possible shift from conventional buildings to timber buildings on the national greenhouse gas budget, transparent calculations according to actual standards and rules are essential. This special session presents a consistent method for scaling from product level to building level and then to a national level. On the national scale, the potential GHG impact of wood consumption in the building sector is modelled based on an insinuated future increase of the market share of timber buildings. The deviation of future emissions and removals due to the biogenic carbon storage effects for changing scenarios is presented. The approach shows how increasing timber construction can contribute to achieving climate targets, where Germany serves as an example.