World Environment Day 2025 - Structural timber is driving forward sustainable housebuilding

IN 1972 delegates from around the world convened at the giant Folkets Hus building in central Stockholm for the inaugural United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.

The then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme presided over perhaps the first consequential environment-themed global gathering of world leaders in history. The congress resulted in the Stockholm Declaration – a tour de force of global environmental diplomacy.

The Declaration started a dialogue between developed and industrialising nations on the link between economic growth and the pollution of the air, water and oceans. The agreement too saw the founding of a World Environment Day to be marked on the 5 June every year from 1973 onwards. And some 50 years later, people from around the world will mark World Environment Day 2025 this Thursday.

Across UK plc we have made great strides in many areas in radically reducing the impact of business. But there remains a whole lot more to do - especially in construction. According to the UK Green Building Council, today embodied carbon from the construction and refurbishment of buildings makes up 20 percent of UK built environment emissions. [i] Embodied carbon refers to the emissions associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building or infrastructure. [ii]

The Labour Government has set itself the gargantuan task of building some 1.5 million homes by the end of the Parliament in 2029. And so how it goes about doing that will play a major role in determining if the built environment becomes a help or hindrance to Whitehall’s broader goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

In the structural timber industry we are working hard to make the built environment sector a shining example of what happens when judicious policymaking and responsible business practice come together to deliver a better future. And we passionately believe that the increased use of structural timber across construction will help achieve this.

Environmentally, the advantages of building with structural timber are vast. Timber is the stand-out performer, possessing the lowest embodied carbon of any building material. Some 0.9 tonnes of CO2 is stored within a m3 of timber. This is less CO2 emissions than the production of an equivalent amount of fossil fuel intensive materials, such as steel, concrete or plastics where, generally, 1.1 tonnes of CO2 is used. This amount, coupled to the 0.9 tonnes of CO2 stored within the wood, means that every m3 of wood substituting for fossil fuel intensive materials saves a total of roughly 2 tonnes of CO2. [iii]

As forests are properly managed and maintained, timber also provides us with the only truly renewable building resource. Trees sequester and store carbon from the atmosphere – meaning that throughout its lifecycle, timber has a carbon negative impact.

Structural timber offers exceptional energy efficiency performance too, greatly reducing household emissions – a positive for both the environment and the pocket of the homeowner. In farmed forests, typically for every tree cut, a further five are planted. [iv]

Fortunately Britain’s housebuilders are helping to drive forward a timber-led future. Indeed companies including Vistry, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Cala Homes and Avant Homes are increasingly embracing the benefits of timber construction. And this, combined with the publication of the Government’s Timber in Construction Roadmap, shows we have a positive future ahead of us.

As humankind celebrates the 53rd World Environment Day, now is the perfect time to reflect on how the built environment can play an instrumental role in fulfilling the UK’s Net Zero Ambition. The clock is ticking.

[i] https://ukgbc.org/news/what-is-embodied-carbon-in-construction/

[ii] Ibid

[iii] https://www.structuraltimber.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/stawhitepaperincreaseinuseoftimber2.pdf

[iv]Ibid