International

As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and release oxygen (O2) back into the air. Softwood products store much of this carbon indefinitely. In the case of buildings, the carbon is kept out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the structure—or longer if the softwood is reclaimed and used to manufacture other products.

• As carbon reduction becomes increasingly important to building activity, wood’s compelling environmental benefits are helping to make it today’s building material of choice:
• It is the only mainstream construction material that is renewable and produced using solar energy.
• It has better insulation properties than other building materials.
• Trees require less energy (meaning less CO2 emissions) to harvest and convert into finished products than any other construction material.
• Wood is reusable, recyclable, can be used as biomass fuel and is biodegradable.
• Wood is better for the environment than fossil fuel-intensive materials such as steel or concrete in terms of embodied energy, air, and other environmental impact categories.