Our annual harvest from Canada’s forested land base represents less than 1% of the total area. Harvesting and reforestation plans prioritize ecologically sound methods.

Wood products have a proven track record in construction demonstrated in both historic and modern timber buildings. Increasingly, engineered wood products are being recognized for their fire-resistant properties, often meeting or exceeding fire safety requirements. Building codes worldwide are acknowledging wood as a high-performance material due to its versatility and natural strength.

Durable and strong, wood is a resilient material that can provide many decades, even centuries, of service. Timber buildings benefit from advancements in modern engineered wood products and can withstand strong winds, harsh weather, fire and earthquakes.

• “Mass timber has inherent fire resistance. During fires, exposed mass timber chars on the outside, which forms an insulating layer protecting the interior wood from damage. Mass timber construction can meet and even exceed fire safety requirements in the Canadian building codes. “

Responsibly sourced wood products are excellent for renewability and the circular bioeconomy, as they come from renewable resources, are recyclable, and can biodegrade under suitable conditions. While recycling and biodegradation reduce waste, complete waste elimination may not always be ideal.

Wood products have a lower embodied carbon compared to many other building materials. Responsibly sourced wood products provide additional climate benefits by sequestering atmospheric carbon during tree growth.  The stored carbon in wood products, coupled with sustainable forest management preventing landscape carbon depletion, and appropriate end-of-life management such as long-term carbon storage in landfills, all contribute to wood products potentially having a positive impact to the climate.

• “Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

When responsibly sourced, wood products meet various international sustainability standards and offer environmental benefits that extend beyond their immediate use. These include carbon sequestration, and a significantly reduced embodied carbon footprint compared to other GHG-intensive building materials.

• “Choosing to use North American wood products is a material choice that will not only reduce the building’s carbon footprint, but it is also the only primary building material derived from a renewable resource.”

With a lower carbon footprint than other major building materials, wood products require less energy to manufacture. And as a naturally insulating, thermal material, wood products can boost energy efficiency—keeping buildings warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

• “Wood is a natural thermal insulator due to the millions of tiny air pockets within its cellular structure (see Figure 2). Since thermal conductivity increases with relative density, wood is a better insulator than dense materials.