Wooden buildings get CO2 certificates

Zürich/Seattle, October 2022

Timber Finance Initiative and Green Canopy NODE are developing a methodology for issuing CO2 certificates for timber buildings. It is intended to help establish wooden buildings as a technology for negative emissions and wood as a low-emission building material.

The Swiss competence center Timber Finance Initiative and the Seattle, Washington-based company for construction technology, real estate development and fund management, Green Canopy NODE , are working together with the Zurich-based project developer South Pole and the consulting firm Gordian Knot Strategies from Portland, Oregon the development of a methodology for issuing CO2 certificates for wooden buildings, the partners inform in a communication . In concrete terms, the methodology should make it possible to measure the carbon stored in timber construction and monetize it via CO2 certificates. As a result, wooden buildings could be recognized as a negative emission technology and wood could be established as a low-emission building material.

The globally recognized program for awarding so-called carbon credits, Verified Carbon Standard , will serve as the standard for the globally applicable methodology. "The UN Climate Change Council has recently officially recognized the storage potential and benefits of wood," Thomas Fedrizzi, co-founder of the Timber Finance Initiative, is quoted as saying in the release. "Wood is not only a carbon sink, but as a building material it also achieves emission reductions by replacing emission-intensive building materials."

As a renewable, low-emission alternative to concrete and steel, wood can protect the environment twice, according to the statement. On the one hand, by trees removing CO2 from the atmosphere and on the other hand, by timber storing the carbon in buildings in the long term. "Houses made of solid wood are more durable and can be less expensive," explains Aaron Fairchild, co-CEO of Green Canopy NODE. "This makes climate-friendly houses accessible to people of all income levels."

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