As trees grow, they absorb the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere and store it as carbon in the wood. This is usually understood in the case of harvested wood as "CO2 storage" wood. But if you calculate correctly, the full CO2 storage should not be used for every wood product. Because only if (1) the harvested trees grow back, i.e. come from sustainable forestry AND if (2) the transports in the entire processing chain from the forest road to the finished product are as short as possible, the full CO2 storage can be counted.

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Lumber from Russia or wood products from Asia, Africa or North/Central/South America, for example, have mathematically reduced CO2 storage in the wood simply because of the long distances.

 

In addition, wood from a plantation in the tropics, for example, cannot be compared with wood from our native old sustainable forests in terms of CO2 storage, and wood extraction from tropical and boreal primary forests has nothing to do with climate protection.

 

Many municipal forests and almost all Central European forests have a high CO2 storage capacity.

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Why sell logs from domestic forests to Asia?

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That means added value, jobs and training places in our regions are lost. Not to mention thatthis has nothing to do with climate protection and resource efficiency. If you don't have your own forester as a municipality, but have your forest managed, tell the manager that you would like your logs to be made available in the region. Include that in your management contracts. As a municipality with a forest, you are the owner and decide where to go.  

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Why use long-distance building materials in building projects?

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Do you know that your timber can often have to travel long distances in the material flow? Lumber from Russia, wood for components such as windows or interior fittings from Asia, pellets from the USA, etc. are not uncommon constellations today and have had few climate-friendly paths behind them.

 

See brochure Importance of Transports .  

 

But you can't see the wood in their products, so it doesn't help that the company commissioned with the construction has its premises 20 km away from the building project. The upstream chains of the building materials are only climate-friendly if the entire material flow chain from the forest road to your building runs as short as possible.

 

Only the climate and environmental label HVH/LCT in your municipal tenders guarantees you the full climate benefit and full CO2 neutrality of the building materials and products. It is up to you as a municipal builder to combine climate protection and regional value creation.

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​The climate and environmental label HVH/LCT is a TYPE ISO I label according to ISO 14024, conforms to the tender and is externally monitored (DWI, PS 880, TÜV).

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Think globally ... act regionally!