A partnership for climate, people and nature
A message from Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
We are approaching dangerous tipping points in the climate system. At the same time, the global built environment is responsible for more than one-third of CO₂ emissions—making it the single greatest leverage point for preventing a looming ‘Hothouse Earth’ scenario. Cities must be transformed from sources of CO₂ into carbon sinks. Timber construction is the most important tool to achieve this.
The combustion of fossil fuels and the destruction of natural ecosystems have significantly increased the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Trees absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis and store the carbon in their wood. When this wood is used in long-lasting buildings, the carbon remains locked away for decades or even centuries, while new trees grow in the forest and absorb additional CO₂. In this way, CO₂ is continuously removed from the atmosphere and, metaphorically speaking, ‘pumped’ via the forest into the built environment. Sustainable forest management and timber construction, combined with reuse and modern recycling technologies, can therefore create a long-term carbon sink.
FAQ’s
Q1. What is the Forestry–Construction–Pump?
The Forestry–Construction-Pump is a systems-based concept that links sustainable forest management with the long-term storage of carbon in buildings. It describes a continuous cycle in which forests capture atmospheric CO₂ through photosynthetic growth, a portion of the harvested wood is used in long-lived construction products, and the harvested stands are sustainably managed and regenerated to continue removing carbon from the atmosphere. At the same time, the use of wood can reduce demand for more emission-intensive construction materials and substitute these. The concept therefore combines biological carbon uptake, long-term carbon storage and industrial decarbonisation into one integrated climate mitigation strategy.
Q2. What is the overarching goal of the Forestry–Construction–Pump?
The goal is not to maximise timber harvest or maximise standing forest carbon in isolation. Rather, it is to optimise the contribution of the entire forest–wood–construction system to climate mitigation, climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation and a circular bioeconomy. By combining sustainable forest management with long-lived wood products and the substitution of emission-intensive materials, the Forestry–Construction–Pump provides a systems-based framework for achieving multiple climate and sustainability objectives simultaneously.
Q3. Is there enough forest to support a significant increase in timber construction?
Globally, the availability of wood depends not on the total forest area alone, but on how forests are managed and where wood is sourced. In many regions, sustainably managed forests produce annual growth that exceeds annual harvests, allowing timber to be supplied without reducing long-term forest productivity. The potential for increased timber construction therefore depends on maintaining sustainable harvest levels, improving resource efficiency, increasing foremostly the reuse of timber construction elements, with recycling and cascading use of wood at the end of the buildings’ lifetime, and ensuring that demand is met from responsibly managed forests rather than from deforestation or forest degradation.
The objective is not to harvest all available biomass, but to optimise the use of renewable wood resources within ecological limits and grow the stored carbon stock in timber construction through multiple reuse.
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