Why The World Already Has Enough Wood to Build ‘Timber Cities’ — New Study

The world has all the fibre it needs to build future cities out of timber; however, to do so, it needs to better utilise waste, improve the circularity of products and turn hardwoods destined for wood fuel into higher-value mass timber products. That is according to a new study, “Global wood harvest is sufficient for climate-friendly transitions to timber cities,” published in Nature, which reveals that shifting wood fuel to industrial use and maximising the circular use of wood can make large-scale wood transitions possible without increasing harvest volumes.

“Our results reveal that these pathways have better environmental performance than increased harvesting, reducing total CO2 equivalent emissions by 2100 by 40.8 Gt compared to business as usual,” according to research led by Alperen Yayla from Imperial College London. “To achieve the wood transition, regional and cross-sectoral governance and planning are needed, addressing national-level pathways and inter-regional wood transport. The most critical actions are reducing the use of virgin wood as fuel by promoting cleaner alternatives and using wood waste more effectively globally, rather than expanding plantation forests.”