It’s time to work with nature, to embrace the natural wonders of wood. Each year a tiny sapling grows a ring of new branches. Reaching higher, growing stronger, removing magnificent amounts of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and binding it into its core. After around 30 years, the mighty tree’s growth begins to slow, curbing its rate of carbon capture. Only then is it harvested into strong, natural and beautiful timber, keeping the carbon locked up, even if the timber is eventually reused. And a new sapling is planted in its place, absorbing carbon dioxide at a much faster rate—picking up the baton to protect the air we all breathe.

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So it isn’t just a piece of timber in the carpenter’s hand, in the timber framing of a home, it’s an environmental marvel. It’s one of the world’s oldest resources, and it’s also where our future lies. Timber is sustainable, renewable, non-toxic and organic, making timber framing one of the most eco-friendly building materials on Earth.

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The timber in framing is also carbon positive, which means the production process—from sapling to installation—removes more carbon dioxide than it emits. And that’s great news for our planet. The more timber framing we use, the more sustainable forests we plant, preserving our home and playing an important part in the solution to climate change. A new cycle of life. A new forest to create a brighter future for the next generation.

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Recent research by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Accounting compared the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by the manufacture of timber products, with the amount of emissions generated by other common building materials. The results showed that by substituting timber in the construction of a typical family home, greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide, could be saved.

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In order to produce 1kg of timber, a tree consumes 1.47kg of CO2 and returns just over a kilo of oxygen into the atmosphere.  When trees are harvested and used to make wood products, the carbon remains stored in the wood for the life of the product. About 50 per cent of the dry weight of wood is carbon.

 

Wood is the only building material that helps tackle climate change. It is important to remove carbon from the atmosphere as well as reduce new carbon emissions going into the atmosphere. Wood achieves both.